Arcobaleno Meet Magic
by Ladidumm
Summary: The Arcobaleno, without the Sky Arcobaleno or Verde, and with Lal, go to Hogwarts because the magic there can temporarily break the curse. Set in the fourth year.
1. The Letter That Would Change Everything

**So, I couldn't get it out of my head. I hope you like it, because… I wrote it so people would like it, I guess? **

**I own nothing. These stories belong to their respective authours.**

* * *

Seven Arcobaleno. Seven powers. Seven flames. Seven adults. Seven children. Seven infants. Seven wills. Seven lives.

One curse.

To break seven, only one is needed.

Reborn looked at Tsuna, then at the letter he clutched in his undersized hand. An order from the Ninth. To help guard a school of magic, of all places. Hogwarts. Tsuna will understand, he's sure of it.

An order for the Arcobaleno. Aria, however, won't be coming. Neither will Verde. He won't accept magic, as rooted in science as he is. He had a hard enough time accepting Mist flame powers. Lal Mirch will.

He probably wouldn't agree so easily anyway, if it weren't for the lead on the curse. The air at this 'Hogwarts' is saturated with magic. It should allow them to regain their adult forms while they are there, with the aid of a spell. Verde couldn't care less, actually finding his new form rather convenient.

Viper, or Mammon as he likes to be called in Arcobaleno form, will be invaluable here. As a powerful psychic, he has had some dealing with magic before. Being psychic is rare. Reborn's still not sure what Mukuro is, but he knows he's not psychic. Chrome must be a little psychic, for Mukuro to possess her so easily, but he doesn't know of anyone else who is psychic at all.

Reborn sighs, and tips his hat down, the moon highlighting his small figure. He'll explain to Tsuna in the morning. In the meantime, he needs to sleep.

* * *

Colonello looks up from the letter he has clutched in his hand. He reads it, over and over again, making sure everything's right. A trip to a place where magic is real. And, and this is the part he has trouble believing, he'd always half-believed in magic anyway, a way to temporarily break the curse?

His small hand clenches somehow tighter, tiny fingers threatening to rip into the paper and destroy the precious letter. Small tears appear in the paper. He hastily lays it on the ground and smoothes it out. The chance to be big again, and with Lal?

He smiles, calling for Falco to come and take him to the plane immediately. He clutches the letter to his chest and smiles.

"Wait for me, kora."

* * *

Skull barely spares the letter a glance when he first gets it. He just goes about his day as usual, completely ignoring the orders from the ninth. After all, he reasons, why should he listen to him? He's not his boss.

It's only a day after he receives it, almost exactly 24 hours, when he picks it up to glance at it. It arrived at such an odd time of night, can't hurt to look at it, now can it? Oh, if only he knew. He reads it, casually, not really paying attention, and is just putting it down when he does a double take and snatches it up again.

He calls for his octopus, and before he knows it, has managed to wake up the entire Karkassa family combat troops by calling for a boat.

He's 24 hours late and most certainly not looking forward to the beating he'll receive. But if he can get big again, he doesn't care. He doesn't think he has any pain receptors left anyway.

Octopus following, he heads out in his jet boat, anxiously hoping they decided to wait for him. Just in case though, he brings a bag with all their favourite drinks. He looks through them as they head out, unknowingly proving himself all the firmer as their errand boy.

Espresso for Reborn-senpai. How can he stand the bitter stuff anyway? Skull secretly thought he just drank it to look suave.

Oolong tea for Fon. No surprises there. He was the only one who never made fun of him, aside from Luche of course.

Sports drinks for Colonello-senpai and Lal. Those two were always such health nuts. He'd never dare say that to either of their faces though.

Strawberry milk for Viper. Now that one he didn't get. Due to a couple of incidents that were never to be mentioned again, they knew he was male. None of them had underestimated illusions or psychic powers ever, ever, again. Skull blamed Verde and his insatiable desire to know everything. But strawberry milk? It was all sweet and not Viper at all. Or Mammon as he was insisting on being called as an Arcobaleno.

And… milk tea. Why was there milk tea? Luche was dead and Aria soon to follow. He knew Uni gave her life in the future.

"Who's that for, sir?" asks a stupid, stupid, subordinate. Most know better than to talk back to the over-excitable Arcobaleno by now. Skull briefly considers pushing him overboard, but decides against it.

"Myself," Skull answers quietly, before tossing it overboard to disappear in the sea.

* * *

Fon looks up from the letter he has been reading, absentmindedly scratching the head of the bird who had been kind enough to bring it to him. He smiles, gently. Does the ninth even need to ask. He laughs gently at the exorbitant amount of money promised in return, enough to convince Viper to use his powers indiscriminately for a year, at the least. Also at the attached that is definitely to the Varia, although it speaks to all.

'This is a direct order to the Arcobaleno. The money is all for them, so they will go happily. You are not allowed to stop them, under any circumstance.'

Fon smiled to himself before leaping from the tree and beckoning to his monkey. He hummed quietly as he ran, little more than a blur, to the meeting place. It was a good thing he had been in Japan when he had gotten this.

* * *

Lal just took one look at the letter before telling Oregano she was leaving, period. Oregano had been confused, seen the letter, and stopped being confused. Lal was grateful.

One thought ran through her mind as she sprinted toward helicopter Sawada-san had prepared immediately upon hearing. Bless the man and his kindness.

Can I see you again? Colonello.

* * *

Viper had almost shown a real facial expression when he saw the letter. Almost. Then he had gone to find the boss.

He had handed it to Xanxus wordlessly, who had grumbled at him for being disturbed but grudgingly took and read it once he saw the seal of the Ninth.

Viper had waited patiently for him to finish reading it, mildly curious as to his reaction. He could have read his mind, but that was just rude, and he really didn't like using his psychic powers at all, opting to only use teleportation in the fight with Mukuro, at the end, to escape.

His thoughts turned to the Vongola mist guardian as Xanxus started growling under his breath and rereading the letter. He was positive at this point the girl was a latent psychic, which was why Mukuro could possess her. Not powerful enough to be called a psychic, but open enough to the supernatural for possession.

Ah. Xanxus was done reading.

Yare yare (1), he had never heard a few of those before. Viper guessed that learning all the different languages they were required to learn left open room for a lot of different swear words.

The rest of the Varia had, by this point, noticed their boss' long string of swear words, with the occasional injection of 'Mammon' and 'Ninth Boss'.

"Vooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Ah, Squalo would be the first to talk, as per the norm. "What's going on?"

"Ushishishishishishi," that was Belphegor. No one else sounded quite so idiotic with his or her laugh. "The Prince would like to know as well."

Seeing as Xanxus was showing no clear sign of stopping, it was Viper who turned and said, "I have a mission. One year long. I'm not allowed to turn it down. The Ninth will ensure no missions with an illusionist required will be sent your way during that time. I am not to be replaced. I will be provided with adequate money for full use of my powers all year."

He was silent for a while to allow them to digest this.

"I'm going now, so I'm not late, seeing as Boss is showing no sign of stopping. Bye now. I'll keep an illusion in contact with you at all time. Bye now."

He disappeared in the mist, leaving behind a shocked Varia and a still-swearing Xanxus, who had by now moved on to swearing about the lack of illusion requiring missions, which were always well paying.

* * *

Five small babies stood beside a plane, drawing some odd looks, but the jet was private, and no one wanted to mess with the babies anyway, all too busy.

"He's late, kora!" Colonello was, understandably, not too happy with Skull.

"Yare yare, we've been here nearly five hours," that was Viper, with his emotionless tone. "Time is money, you know."

"Now, now, Mammon, you're being paid quiet well for this anyway, aren't you?" there was Fon, always calming.

"Myu." Ah, Viper was always so expressive with his noises.

"Still, he shouldn't be late," says a disgusted Lal. "He's being rude."

Reborn is quiet, suddenly raising his gun and pointing at a sprinting purple shape, which makes an Eep sound and falls to the ground, raising a plastic bag as if in offering.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Reborn-senpai!" Skull knows he is begging for his life now, so he should make it good. "I didn't read the letter for awhile! I was busy, you know how it is! But I brought drinks!"

Reborn slowly lowers his gun and takes the bag.

"Alright then, let's go." And on that note, they all disappear into the plane.

On the morning of September first, six babies, unseen by all, disappear into a pillar. When they re-emerge, they board the train, on which sits Harry Potter, embarking on a fourth year at Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

**

* * *

Yare yare- Dear dear, or the equivalent. Viper always says this in the Arcobaleno trials arc.**

**I apologize for Verde not being in this. If you want him to, he will be. I just couldn't really think up anything. **

**A warning: I really like Viper, so he may appear more than you may like. If he appears too much, do tell me.**

**I like reviews. Who doesn't? I kind of lose heart when no one reviews. I'll try though. But it will be hard. So please, if you can, review.**


	2. A Train Ride and the Golden Trio

**Chapter 2 is out. I own nothing. These stories belong to their respective authours.**

Harry Potter was speaking with Hermione and Ron when the very odd thing happened.

The door opened and a voice, too high pitched for an adult, or even a child, almost like an infant's, came through. Harry dismissed this thought immediately. That was impossible, even for the wizarding world, right?

"Can we sit here? All the other compartments are full." That was the voice. Harry looked down instinctively to where it was.

He immediately revised his previous statement.

There were six infants, about a year old, standing in front of him, wearing the oddest clothes he had ever seen.

The first, the one which had spoken, belonged to an infant wearing what Harry recognized as a Muggle fedora, with a Muggle suit beneath it. The colour scheme seemed to be orange, as the band around the hat and the undershirt were orange. A green lizard perched on his head. He had a glowing yellow pacifier. He was holding what looked like espresso. Or, at least, that was what was written on it.

The second was giving him a very un-baby-like look, which was a glare. He had blonde hair in a camo bandana, a falcon on his shoulder, and was wearing a camo suit. He had a bright blue, glowing, pacifier, and –Merlin's beard, was that a gun on his back? The thing was huge! He held a sports drink.

Beside him was a female, with dark blue hair and eyes, and goggles. A horrific, red, burn-looking scar inched towards her eye on the right side of her face. Otherwise, she wore a ragged looking outfit, with bandages covering the remainder. And why was Harry not surprised to see the giant gun strapped to her back. Her pacifier was grey and evil looking, swirling around. She, as well, clutched a sports drink.

The fourth was calm, a Chinese looking baby with a braid and a fringe, wearing a Chinese martial arts uniform. The top was orange with oversized sleeves, while the pants were black. His pacifier was red. Perched happily on top of his head was a monkey, eating some nuts. He held easily in his hand a Japanese drink labelled Oolong Tea, with both English and Japanese translations.

The fifth was wearing a purple leather motorcyclist uniform with a helmet. He was standing very, VERY, straight, and rubbing his head. His pacifier was purple. He was the only one not holding a drink.

The final baby was just plain weird. There was a black frog with green eyes sitting on his head. Or hers. He couldn't really tell. He thought it was a he though. He was clad in a black cloak, with two white stripes on his head. His cloak had some buttons, and what looked like a robe underneath. He had a patch with a crest which read Varia on it. He had to downward markings on his face, which looked eerily like snake fangs. The colour was one Harry belatedly recognized as indigo. His pacifier was the same colour. The drink he clutched was in both Japanese and English, with pink milk on the side facing him. The English translation said Strawberry milk.

Hermione and Ron were gawking behind him, he could just feel it.

"Well, maggot? Are you going to let us sit here or not, maggot?" Wait- what?

Ron recovered first.

"Um… did the blonde baby just call us maggots? And is that a gun?"

"Yare yare, the English wizards really are stupid, aren't they? I wonder how much money I can win off them…" the cloaked baby was talking in a frighteningly unemotional voice.

"Now, now, Mammon, be nice, this is not a money making trip," said the calm, Chinese baby. The cloaked baby, who Harry guessed was called Mammon, responded with a 'Myu'.

"Sure," there was Hermione, who had that Oh-now-I-get-what's-going-on-how-did-I-never-see-it-before look in her eyes. "You're the Arcobaleno, right? I read about you."

All the babies stiffened at this. Then the lizard baby grinned.

"Maybe not as stupid as they look, Viper?" wasn't his name Mammon?

Harry moved over to the side of the compartment where Hermione and Ron were sitting. The babies all crowded into the other side.

"My name is Reborn, the sun Arcobaleno," that was the lizard baby, who was apparently the leader.

"This is Skull, the Cloud Arcobaleno," This was accompanied by a gesture to the helmet-wearing baby.

"This is Colonello, the Rain Arcobaleno," The baby with the camo. "Speaking of, Colonello, instead of saying maggot in English, say kora, in Japanese, it's politer."

"This is Lal Mirch, an incomplete Arcobaleno," the only female baby inclined her head, she was also apparently the only baby with a last name. "Colonello took her place. It didn't quite work." Apparently Hermione understood, but one glance at Ron showed he was just as confused.

"This is Fon, the Storm Arcobaleno," the Chinese baby bowed slightly.

"This is Viper, the Mist Arcobaleno," the cloaked baby opened his mouth as if to say something, "I know you'd rather be called Mammon while cursed, but it's too confusing for them, and we're here for a temporary solution, so call yourself Viper for the duration of the mission." Being instantly suspicious of the baby because of a name like a snake was tempting, but just not worth it.

"Hermione," Oh, Ron had found a voice now. "What are the Arcobaleno?"

"Seven powerful people cursed to walk outside time, protecting the pacifiers," she said in an unsteady voice, "the curse was unknown, but I recognize the pacifiers. That's all the information I know. I don't know about the elements they were talking about."

Naturally, at this point, Draco chose to walk in the door followed by Crabbe and Goyle.

"What's this?" he asked, nose so high in the air it was unbelievable. "Playing with infants now, Potter? I suppose no one else could stand your company so you were forced to kidnap these poor children and dress them up. How pathetic, Potter-"

His voice was suddenly cut off as a noise Harry and Hermione recognized as a gunshot rang out, and smoking hole appeared in the wall just above Draco's head. All eyes turned in shock to the baby Harry matched as Reborn, now lizardless and clutching a smoking green gun, which was pointing at Draco.

Draco had gone pale, eyes fixed on what must be, to him, an alien machine.

"You're annoying," the baby said calmly.

No one moved for a few seconds. The silence stretched on and on, beginning to become awkward. Then the cloaked baby, Viper, spoke.

"Yare yare, Reborn," there was still no emotion in that lilting voice, "Think of how much that could cost to repair. What if they charge us?"

"…" THAT's what he was worried about?

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Viper, be more considerate," that was Fon, the calm one.

"Cheh, kid had it coming, calling us babies," Lal, right?

"Eeeh, Reborn-senpai, we could get in trouble!" that was purple baby Skull.

"Shut up, kora!" Blonde baby Colonello now.

Silence reigned once again as everyone did just that. Then Malfoy just left, followed by Crabbe and Goyle. Silence was king again in the compartment, and remained that way for the rest of the trip, as all the babies apparently fell asleep. Afraid to wake them, Hermione, Ron, and Harry were just quiet.

The six Arcobaleno departed the train and took the carriages up to the castle. Apparently, no one else could see the horses, with bone protruding, more skeletal than anything else, as none of the students were able to see them, which the Arcobaleno deduced from the general lack of panicked screaming emanating from the students, which had to be cowards to run from just a gunshot.

The babies draw some odd looks, but apparently the students are too nervous to worry themselves over every strange thing. Only one actually approaches them and sits in the carriage with them though. A girl with the palest blonde hair, wearing robes with blue. She is holding a magazine, and reading it upside down. None of the infants see anything wrong about this, as all are used to getting messages from strange places.

They hear the cries about 'Loony Lovegood and the babies' and deduce that this girl is widely regarded as insane. This actually makes them comfortable around her, as all have been classified as insane more than once in their lives, what makes them bristle are the accusations of being stupid. Insane and stupid are not one and the same.

"Hello," the girl's voice is dreamy, and fits her perfectly. "Are you the Arcobaleno?" All the babies' heads snap up in surprise. "I'm glad you will break the curse, even if only temporarily."

"How do you know we're here for that, girl?" Reborn asks, wary but at the intrigued by this girl.

"Oh, my family is interested in this kind of thing," she says distractedly. All the babies are impressed and instinctively scornful of any who would ridicule this clearly intelligent female. She's the smartest witch they have met, and clearly calm. She would make a good hitman.

The rest of the ride passes in silence, though not the awkward silence of earlier, but a comfortable silence, with all at ease with each other.

A lady met them at the door. She was strict and uptight looking, and seemed a tad uncomfortable talking to babies.

"Follow me. My name is McGonagall. I'm taking you to see Dumbledore.


	3. The Breaking of the Curse

**Chapter Three. I own nothing. These stories belong to their respective authours.**

Harry, Hermione, and Ron, were heading to the Great Hall when they heard McGonagall calling their names.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione! Come with me, I want you to see something," she called to them. And standing beside her were the Arcobaleno. They nervously made their way over, accompanied by snickers of 'Potter's in trouble', and like things.

The babies frowned, but other than that didn't really bother to acknowledge their existence, and followed them to the Headmaster's office. The Arcobaleno showed no indication of surprise on their way up to Dumbledore's office, even the purple baby, Skull, who seemed to be the loudest. Their faces were guarded, and they all looked way too old for their ages. It was disconcerting.

They arrived in the office soon enough, and Dumbledore stood up.

"Arcobaleno," he greeted them. And then he bowed. Dumbledore _bowed_. Harry blinked, his jaw dropping, even as the babies merely nodded in response. Who were these babies? What was going on? Were they really that important? "You should return in the clothes you were wearing when the curse first occurred. Your animals will remain with you."

"Harry," Dumbledore said even as he turned to the Golden Trio. "I want you to see this. The Arcobaleno are cursed to remain in that form, but the magic at Hogwarts should allow them to, while they are here, return to their old forms, though they must still carry the pacifier. I want you to see them transform. They will be here through the year and may return next year. You may find this interesting."

Dumbledore drew his wand and began to make motions with it, speaking words in an odd spell that even Hermione couldn't recognize. A bright light started to come from the pacifiers as they shone ever brighter and brighter, until Harry finally squeezed his eyes shut. There was a sharp crack and he opened them in alarm. What he saw astonished him.

Where six babies had once stood, there were now six disgruntled looking adults, sitting on the floor. Harry could only tell who was who by their pacifiers and clothing, which was similar or alike to what they had been wearing before.

Reborn was tall and dashing, incredibly handsome, with his eyes slightly shaded by the brim of hat, on which the lizard now perched. The only difference to his clothing was that where once it had been orange, it was now yellow, matching the pacifier he was busily tucking into his pocket. He was slightly smiling.

Fon looked exactly the same, but for the obvious fact that he was once a baby and now an adult. His face was calm, but a joy shone through as he tucked his pacifier away.

Skull was chattering excitedly as he tugged off his helmet, revealing dark purple hair and lighter eyes. He had a teardrop tattoo under his left eye, also purple, and a stud on his chin and a chain going from his ear to his lip on the left side of his face. He was trying to find a pocket on the uniform Harry now recognized as a stuntman's.

Colonello was blonde and had the stereotypical bad boy good looks. His blue eyes shone happily as he teased the woman beside him and tucked the pacifier into one of the pockets on his combat vest.

The woman beside him, Lal Mirch, was also not wearing any different clothes. Even as one hand traced the scar on her face self-consciously, her eyes were gleaming and she was gazing at Colonello, her hand grasping the corrupted pacifier as she pushed it into the pocket on her ragged skirt.

Viper had a very feminine face, but there was a masculine air about him, and he was, again, showing no emotion, though the others were clearly happy. He had indigo hair poking out from beneath the hood, and his patch with Varia on it was missing. Or, it was, because he noticed this and waved a hand and it was back. Where he had once had buttons on both sides of his cloak, there was now merely a chain holding it together.

Harry gawked some more, and Dumbledore had a hand on the desk and was leaning on it rather heavily, clearly the spell took a lot of power to cast.

"Yay! Reborn-senpai it worked it worked it worked it worked it worked it worked it worked it WORKED!" Skull was chattering happily, but was quickly silenced by a solid thump over the head by Reborn and Colonello and Lal, while Fon chuckled silently and Viper just looked on, impassive.

"Harry, Hermione, Ron, head to the Great Hall, I think if you leave now you can be in time for the end of the sorting," Dumbledore instructed. With a last glance at the Arcobaleno, the Golden Trio hurried off.

The announcements were going on. Then Dumbledore stepped up. He spoke of the Tri-Wizard tournament. This caused an excited buzz. Harry was nervous and happy. He was even more excited when he spoke of the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Mad-Eye Moody. He was also tensely waiting for the Arcobaleno to be introduced.

"Now," continued Dumbledore, "I would like to announce six individuals you will see around the school. They were cursed and are now here for recovery. They are rather odd, but I am certain you will get used to them. They shall also help out with the Tri-Wizard tournament, and be observing classes they are interested in." There was a murmur. No one was standing there.

"Ah," Dumbledore cleared his throat. "You can come out now. Viper, that means release your illusions."

"Yes, Viper, go ahead," there was Reborn's voice, out of thin air. Then the air rippled behind Dumbledore, and an indigo mist appeared, which slowly cleared to reveal the Arcobaleno.

There were collective gasps of awe among the students. Suddenly appearing out of thin air wearing weird clothes tended to do that.

"Ciaossu," Reborn introduced himself. "My name is Reborn. This is Colonello, Fon, Lal, Skull and Viper. Please take care of us."

Silence. Silence. Silence. Still more silence. Ah, there it is. Uproar. It took Dumbledore quite awhile to calm down the students and even longer to get them all organized. After that, they all silently shuffled off to their classrooms, excited by the prospect of the Tri-Wizard tournament.

Lal had not been happy, to say the least, when she heard of this tournament. The less people who knew about the Arcobaleno, the better! But no, three other schools just had to come and participate. She grit her teeth. As if it wasn't bad enough, the odd looks they were getting.

"Calm down, kora!" Colonello had somehow appeared beside her, an arm casually hooked around her shoulders. She grabbed it and flipped him over her.

"Who said you could do that?" she snarled.

"Still so un-ladylike, kora?" he laughed at her from the ground. "We're adults now, kora! Be happy, kora!" he stood up. "Come on, kora! Let's get going, kora!"

She blustered, but allowed him to pull her behind him, a light blush tickling her cheeks. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.


	4. Moody's First Class and the Three Curses

**Chapter 4 is here. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authuors. **

Naturally, the class Harry had been looking forward to the most, DADA, with a real aurour, would be the one all the Arcobaleno decided to attend. Harry shivered. He didn't think he'd ever forget Viper and Snape's conversation when he had attended Potions the day before. It had involved a lot of things about how to scare your enemies until a nervous breakdown occurred. Something about illusions and potions being connected as well. So far, Harry had discovered that Viper was the one who specialized in illusions, and the only one who could use them.

All of the Arcobaleno stood there as Moody introduced the class to himself. As he began to speak about Aurour work, Viper made a sound that sounded like 'Myu', which attracted his attention.

"Is something funny, Snake?" apparently Moody had decided he disliked Viper because of his name. It might have had something to do with his general creepiness, though.

"Did I laugh?" as usual, that voice was eerily melodic, and emotionless.

"I don't think you can." Harry had to agree with that one.

"I wouldn't know. I've never tried." OK. Now that, that was just weird.

"I think I know you. Didn't you almost get arrested a few times? Dark Wizard Viper?" a collective gasp echoed throughout the room.

"That was prejudice. I only harmed actual Dark Wizards. It was disproved. Are you going to continue with the lesson or not?"

"Of course."

Harry couldn't help but gape at the newly christened Dark Wizard. A Dark Wizard? In the school? But Dumbledore trusted him.

Reborn smirked as the students began to gaze at Viper as Moody regained control of the classroom. Dark Wizard, eh? Well, that fit all of them, really, seeing as they were the mafia. And Viper was asking for it, doing anything for money like he did. He was really surprised no one had thought about it before.

Reborn couldn't help but be intrigued by the three so-called Unforgivable Curses. The first one, Imperius, was almost eagerly surprised by one of the students, and Reborn thought it fascinating, seeing as the only person he knew who could do that was Mukuro with the aid of the possession bullet.

The spider was forced to tap-dance in that grotesque way and Reborn couldn't help being disgusted by the way the students laughed. Even idiotic Skull got that this was no laughing matter. Reborn got a perverse satisfaction by the way Moody yelled at them. _They deserved it_, he thought maliciously. He was glad that Moody had, because, unbeknownst to the class, Colonello was physically restraining Lal, and he looked ready to jump on the students himself. Skull was being calmed down by Fon, causing Reborn to wonder, yet again, why the hot-headed Colonello and Lal were rain while someone like Fon was storm. Viper, as usual, couldn't seem to care less.

Reborn tugged his fedora down farther, shading his unhappy face, teeth gritting. He disliked these pathetic students enough already.

Next was the Cruciatus curse. This one, obviously, upset the students more. It was the opposite for the Arcobaleno. This was a useful curse, could easily be used for interrogations within the mafia. It was perfect, no lasting damage, and just pain. It actually seemed rather merciful. Instead of cutting off parts, breaking bones, and overall just hurting a person, this was very economic.

Reborn resolved to look into finding out how to use it himself.

He noticed one boy gritting his teeth, going pale, clutching the desk far too hard; all signs of a psychological link to this particular curse. His dislike of the Aurour, which had begun with his hassling of Viper because of his past, rose exponentially. Having already demonstrated his 'marvellous eye' he had to have noticed this. He was simply prolonging the child's experience.

Reborn deduced he was sadistic.

Skull was ready to jump on the students when they laughed at the first curse. He was prepared to maul them, slowly, when they noticed but didn't do anything about the boy, who looked like a wimp, when he was obviously suffering. So Skull used something very few people knew he actually had. His brain.

"Fon, shouldn't you do something? If someone like you is mad, people listen," really, Skull just didn't want to get into trouble, but he was good at getting other people to do things for him.

Fon seemed to think about this for a few seconds, then smiled in that infuriatingly calm way of his, basically telling Skull that he saw right through his plan. The gazes the other Arcobaleno were sending him told him they didn't either. But Fon reacted anyway. He turned to Viper.

"Viper," he said, still smiling gently. "An illusion, if you would?"

"…Of what?"

"Whatever you so wish," a satisfied 'Mu' accompanied this, "As long as no one is hurt." Fon finished, to the sound of a much less satisfied 'Myu'.

Viper was interested by this preposition. He did have emotions, contrary to popular opinion, he just didn't show them. Emotions were necessary to feel, but not to act upon. So when Fon asked for a non-killing, non-maiming, non-injuring, non-traumatizing illusion, Viper was curious. He wasn't used to those kinds of illusions.

Viper thought long and hard, a.k.a. about thirty seconds. Then he concentrated, and, without any visible indication of what was going on, the spider appeared to collapse, exhausted, the curse just not working anymore. There was silence.

"Sir?" Hermione Granger was piping up, always the first to need to know. "Can you do that without a wand?"

"No," Moody positively growled, looking so upset by this, "I didn't do that. Do you know who did? Arcobaleno?"

"Of course," naturally, Fon would answer, as this whole thing was his idea. He was also the only one who wasn't tempted to either put a bullet in Moody's head, use some anti-tank artillery, smash Moody through a wall with his giant octopus, or read his mind then use his worst fears against him. Well, he was probably tempted, he just wouldn't do it.

"It's just an illusion, but the curse was bothering one of the students, and since no one else seemed resolved to speak up, we decided to do something," Fon continued. "Now, if you would please end the curse?" an eyebrow was raised along with this.

"Fine, but I'll need to be able to see it," Moody said, grudgingly, as if he didn't want to, but would do so reluctantly.

Viper frowned, this would require raising a hand, this illusion had to be intricate to not harm anyone, and he had actually enjoyed helping out the spider. He could easily see the way the curse worked. It was like an illusion, it made the victim believe that the pain was there. But it was clumsy. Undoing it was too simple, but undoing his own illusion was too intricate to not require actual thought. He felt the students' eyes on him, and he flexed his fingers outwards, and felt the familiar rush of Mist powers as the illusion on the spider dissipated, allowing the thing's suffering to resume.

The class again looked vaguely ill as they stared at the spider, and Moody begrudgingly released the curse, putting the spider back into it's jar. The third spider was taken out and placed on the desk. Moody asked what the third Unforgivable Curse was. The student which answered did so in a very shaky voice.

Avada Kedavra. The words resounded like thunder through the small classroom. Beside Viper, Reborn visibly perked up. An instant kill, unblockable, with no sign of who did it left? It was every hitman's dream. Apparently even Reborn was not exempt from small fantasies.

Moody practiced it on the spider, and in that instant his emotions and thoughts washed over Viper in such power that he stumbled a bit and had to be caught by Fon, who was on the other side of him. The other Arcobaleno were looking at him in concern, but he went unnoticed by the rest of the class, who were all focused on the now unmoving spider. But all Viper could think of was what the emotions that had come from Moody had been.

Pure bloodlust. With one thought resounding behind it. _Kill._

Fon had felt the bloodlust that was apparently necessary to perform the curse. He heard Reborn sigh in disappointment on the other side of Viper, that much killing intent would alert any nearby with enough skill, meaning the curse was practically useless as an assassination technique.

Then Viper stumbled and fell against him, and Fon realized that the bloodlust must have been larger than he'd thought to affect him this much. As a psychic, it was only natural for Viper to not show emotions, lest he be overwhelmed by them. Fon stared at Moody, then turned and left, followed by Viper, then Reborn, then Skull, then Colonello and Lal.

Their departing backs spoke to Moody, _We're watching you._

**So, 4****th**** chapter out and one review. ONE. Seriously people? But still, I'm just going to assume you have a good reason for not reviewing. **

**I apologize for how much Viper showed up in here, but he was just so easy to write here. And, way I figure it, if he were ever involved with magic, which is likely, he would be mistaken as a dark wizard. Because, he is a Varia member and all. Oh, and by the way, Viper CAN read minds, he's a psychic, and became an illusionist afterwards. So, even without his frog, he can fly, teleport, use psychokinesis, use telepathy, etcetera. So, no bashing because of the mentions of that in this. I will be very mad.**

**If you want any of the Arcobaleno to show up more, just say and they will. Seriously. Just write, I want *****blank***** to come up more and the next chapter will have more of them, and be written mostly from their POV. **

**Thanks for reading this chapter!**


	5. The Arrival of the Other Schools

**Chapter 5 is here now. I own nothing. These stories belong to their respective authours. **

* * *

The other two schools had decided to arrive. Apparently, they were now deemed worthy enough to be graced with the presence of such elite and high class establishments. Reborn grimaced. This wasn't like him. This whole business with Moody must be affecting him more than he thought. He tugged out the pacifier and looked at it for a few seconds, then sighed and put it back where it belonged, his pocket. Then he glanced over at Skull, who had apparently decided to make a weird noise. He was getting impatient.

Reborn sighed. Skull was the youngest of the group, but still absolutely refused to learn patience. One would think spending all that time with the seven of the most powerful and definitely by far the most eccentric individuals in the world, mafia or not, would teach one patience at many meetings then being turned into a baby would teach one patience.

Skull made another weird noise. The Mafioso sighed.

Apparently not.

He glanced over at the others, to see how they were faring. Lal and Colonello appeared to be having an argument over the virtues of different types of heavy artillery, with much brandishing of the lethal weapons. They were also attracting the attention of many different bystanders, who were going googly-eyed. Reborn savoured the rare moment of learning something new. He hadn't actually thought that was anatomically possible.

Beside them, Fon appeared to have sat down and began meditating. As Reborn watched he opened one eye, and looked at Reborn. He then stood up, dusted himself off, and fed his monkey some nuts. Then he pulled a gyoza out of who knows where and began to eat it himself.

Viper had stood for the first while without showing any indication of, well, anything at all, but then had finally moved from whatever it was he was doing. He had made his 'Myu' sound, and had then proceeded to mutter what sounded exactly like 'time is money'. He was now busily counting and recounting some money he had gotten from somewhere. He always seemed to have some on him. He was muttering numbers under his breath as he went.

Reborn frowned again as he began to mentally address the problem that was Alastor Moody. The man was a mystery, and Viper said that he didn't feel the same as he had when he had met him, but that had been over sixteen years ago, and so was not that reliable of information.

Suddenly he felt a surge of power, and his head jerked up. Beside him, the rest of the Arcobaleno had felt it and were reacting appropriately. Fon abruptly broke off a conversation he had started with the bushy hair girl they had met on the train, Hermione Granger. Apparently she was curious about his gyoza. He stopped and stared at the sky, where the disturbance was coming from. Lal and Colonello had stopped arguing over their weapons, which was good seeing as they had apparently just decided to have a contest and were looking for a place to hold it. Skull, who had been on the verge of calling his giant octopus, frowned at the sky, not liking this. Viper's money had disappeared back to wherever it came from, and he was looking in the general direction of the disturbance. Evidently none of the students had noticed it yet.

A few seconds later a giant flying carriage appeared from nowhere, or so it seemed to those who had not sensed it before. It landed and out came a bunch of female students, with a very tall woman leading them. She approached Dumbledore and they nodded to each other. This could be interesting.

* * *

Harry stared in awe at the woman who stood there, resplendent in all her regal beauty. She and Dumbledore greeted each other with nods, and Harry's thoughts flashed back to the way Dumbledore had bowed to the Arcobaleno. Behind Dumbledore the Arcobaleno appeared, as silently as if they had always been there. Madam Maxine's eyes widened.

"Dumbly-dorr," she began, and Harry discovered she had an accent, "who arre these people?"

"The Arcobaleno," he said smoothly, "I've temporarily broken the curse."

"Th-the Arrrcobaleno?" she stammered, eyes wide, "the rrrreal ones? Have they got the pacifierrrs?"

Without a word the Arcobaleno pulled out the glowing pacifiers, and presented them to her, before slipping them back into places on their bodies. Madam Maxine hastily bowed. Around Harry, the students began to shift uneasily. Just who were these people, to command such respect? Harry watched as Reborn opened his mouth to say something.

All of a sudden, the six Arcobaleno spun around, facing the lake. Exactly five seconds later, a giant ship arose. Off came the students of Durmstrang, preceded by Karkaroff, their headmaster.

"I heard everything," Karkaroff said, bowing to the Arcobaleno, albeit stiffly, and nodding at Dumbledore and Madam Maxine. "So, these are the famous Arcobaleno?" he asked, looking them up and down critically, "Rather ragged, aren't they?" he sneered, "Just relics of an old past, the Trinisette! Older than Dumbledore, aren't you? I can hardly believe that-*gark*"

He was cut off abruptly, one hand to his throat, clawing at it, his face slowly turning blue. The other hand had jerked behind his back and was held there, as though bound by an invisible chain. Harry finally turned to glance at the Arcobaleno and he stared. Lal and Colonello had hands on their guns, Skull had pulled out a pistol from somewhere and had it clutched behind his back, Reborn had a green gun and his lizard was gone again, and Fon was trying to calm them down. Viper had a hand out, fist clenched, and it was him who spoke.

"Yare yare, that was private," his voice was frighteningly emotionless, almost bored. "I would ask you to allow us our secrets, and not speak so freely of matters you know nothing about." Karkaroff, meanwhile, was on the ground, and foaming at the mouth. All the students could just stare in amazement and horror at the scene. There was no sound but Karkaroff' strangling noises.

"Viper, enough," Reborn spoke quietly, but it shattered the silence. "Durmstrang headmaster, we'll give you one more chance, but that is all. Do not speak of us without our express permission." Miraculously, the guns he and Skull had held were gone, his lizard was back, and Colonello and Lal had their guns back in their holsters. In fact, Skull, Colonello, and Lal were eating the dumplings Fon had been eating earlier; Harry had heard Hermione call them 'gyoza'. As they watched, he handed one to Reborn and Viper, before biting into one himself. "We see no reason to stay any longer. Viper?"

Karkaroff could, apparently, breathe again, and he was doing so, on his hands and knees gasping for breath. An indigo mist covered the Arcobaleno, and when it dissipated there was nothing there. The Arcobaleno were gone, leaving behind more questions than answers.

Who were they, really? What were they? How could they be older than Dumbledore? How did they do that? What plans did they have? How were they cursed? What could have cursed them? Why were they here? What did they want? Were they really dark wizards?

Were they even human?

* * *

Reborn thought about their predicament as he bit into a gyoza. He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all. He hated making Viper do all the work, but none of the others could do anything not resulting in lethal force. Usually the only ones who dared to annoy any of the Arcobaleno were either dead, or strong enough not to be killed. But these wizards had a lot of bravery, and very little strength. Or was it even bravery? It might just be an excess of stupidity, disguised as courage.

Based on what he had seen so far, Reborn was more inclined to think of it as stupidity.

He sighed, finishing off the last of his gyoza. Fon really was good at that, he thought. Just like Luche. He sighed again. He still missed her… Luche. But that was all in the past. Just like Uni's death was all in the future. It wasn't funny. Why did the only Arcobaleno with any good in them, the Sky Arcobaleno, have to die? Did it matter? They were dead. Move on.

"Keep an eye on Karkaroff," he told the others, who had been patiently waiting for him to finish contemplation as they sat in the Forbidden Forest. He paused, and then added, almost as an afterthought,

"If possible, try not to kill him."

He was greeted with predatory grins, even from Viper and Fon, in return.

**

* * *

So, I just wanted to thank the two who reviewed! Thanks so much! I really appreciate it. Really. **

**About the over-excess of Reborn in this chapter, he's the one who's most likely to think things over rationally, so when I want a neutral perspective, it'll be him for the Arcobaleno.**

**Sorry for not putting in enough Colonello or Lal. It's just, those two are kind of a package deal, and I really suck at writing romance. Seriously. So I'm just gonna kinda skirt around the matter until someone says something. So if you want some of either of them, platonic or romantic, say, and there it will be.**

**Thanks again for the reviews! You have my eternal gratitude.**

**Thank you for reading this chapter.**


	6. Arcobaleno's Outrage and a Speech

**Chapter 6 is out. I own nothing. These stories belong to their respective authours.**

**By the way, I got some requests for some ColoLal, and one request for more Viper, so there will be more of that in this. **

**There may be light swearing in this. Does bastard count as swearing?**

* * *

Lal Mirch stood at attention at the back of the Great Hall. She glared at the students with the audacity to dare to challenge her-HER!- by looking at her funny. She bared her teeth at some males who had actually said that she had pretty hair. Lal didn't do pretty, nor did she do girly. If she did, maybe Colonello would stop teasing her about it and look at her in a way other than student and teacher.

Needless to say, Lal was not in a good mood.

It had all started with that Karkaroff bastard spilling so many of their secrets. Students were beginning to gossip. She gritted her teeth as she listened to them and their stupid, trivial accusations. Ha! As if she would let things like 'is she really that strong?' 'wow, I wonder if they're lying,' get to _her_. It would take more than that to-

Oh, that is _it_.

He did not just say that.

…

He did, didn't he?

"Older than your grandma? OLDER THAN YOUR GRANDMA?" she snapped at the boy, in growing intensity. As insults go, it wasn't the worst she'd heard. It was just the straw that broke the camel's back. She couldn't take it anymore. "Oh now you're in for it, you conceited little brat." Just as she was about to launch into a very detailed description of what she'd do to the young Slytherin brat, she felt strong arms circle beneath hers, tugging her to the owner's chest. She smelled the scent of sweat, but not in a bad way, and gunpowder, with that healthy tang of the outdoors, and knew instantly whom it was, if the camo sleeves hadn't alerted her.

Colonello.

"What are you doing, brat?" she shouted, twisting to glare at him, only to be met with a pair of mischievously twinkling eyes and an infectious smile.

It just wasn't fair. He shouldn't be allowed to do that.

Instantly she flushed, choosing to glare at the ground, her yells lowering to a mumble. Sometimes she wished he hadn't turned old again. It was easier to deal with him when he just looked like a baby. But the eyes. The eyes never changed. Always blue and glowing in the exact same shade as the Rain pacifier he carried.

"You can't kill them, kora!" he reminded her, almost gently. But he didn't do gentle, so it was as close as it would get. "The curse, Lal, remember the curse, kora!" he reminded her, letting go.

"Fine," she muttered, if only to stop him from using those unfair blue eyes on her. She slouched out of her militant position, and leaned back against the wall, arms crossed over he chest in a way that mirrored his.

The assembly they had momentarily interrupted moved on, she noted with disinterest. All in all, she couldn't really care less about this competition for brats. Honestly? She put her trainees through worse on their first day!

Not the dragons though. She had never been able to find the dragons.

…

Maybe she could steal one. Viper would probably help, for the money of selling some.

…

She'd have to ask him.

* * *

The object of her thoughts was, currently, thanking all the money in the world that he had no emotions. Or, at least, that he knew not to listen to them. Out of all the Arcobaleno, him and Lal had it the worst. Was it really his fault that he had some feminine features? No. He couldn't control it. And yet they all seemed to think it prudent to tease him over something he couldn't control!

They all thought it, though some were polite enough not to actually say it out loud. His telepathic hearing was at it's lowest, yet they still insisted on practically shouting it out. He could feel the beginnings of a headache fast approaching. Briefly, he considered using an illusion and incapacitating all of them, but he remembered Reborn's strict instructions not to agitate, or psychologically brutalize the students unless he had no choice.

He was just wondering whether or not he could possibly pass off thinking at an annoyingly loud volume as just cause for killing when the very long, tedious, and really worthless speech the young man who looked old- by Arcobaleno terms at least- was giving mentioned something odd.

"The Arcobaleno will be supervising this as well, so please feel comfortable around them, as they will make sure that no one is hurt," the headmaster finished.

…

What?

Did they get asked?

…

He didn't remember agreeing to that. And judging by the agitated brainwaves flowing off the other Arcobaleno, neither did they. He frowned underneath his hood and directed his attention on Dumbledore, easily breaking down the flimsy shields the man had built.

Wizards apparently had memory spells they could use, but they were nothing compared to him. He felt the man stiffen, however, as an alien presence in his mind was noted, and throw up stronger mental walls around his important memories, moderate ones against the ones he had time to, and flimsy ones around the less important ones he knew he didn't have time to get to.

Viper had to give him some credit, which he did with a small 'Mu'. Most people didn't have enough skills to build any walls, and rarely noticed when they were breached. Even fewer had the skills to throw up walls so quickly. This skill, he learned by idly breaking down one of the flimsier walls in his path to what he wanted, was gained by practicing every night, taking out some of his memories and putting them in a 'pensieve'. He finally reached his destination, and pulled at the memories.

He made a small, angry 'Mu'. How dare this man think it would make the two, uncooperative headmasters more cooperative to do this without asking, and so do so! He quickly sent this information in the direction of the other Arcobaleno, and felt a small, gentle tug of acceptance on his mental strings to all of them.

He retreated back to his own mind, but on the way he suddenly felt a surge of power from the direction of Moody. His bloodlust was back, cracking through his façade with the aid of his impatience.

This open to the world, it _hurt_, and he snapped mentally back with a gasp, not able to take the time to properly cut off his connection with Dumbledore, or the one made with Moody, albeit small.

He staggered, and collapsed again, Fon grabbing hold of his shoulders. Using that ability took a lot out of him, which was why he preferred not to and only used it rarely, normally only for money.

* * *

Moody smirked with satisfaction as he felt the psychic recoil from his bloodlust. Dumbledore had raised a shaky hand and continued with the assembly, following the long pause as they all awaited the response of the Arcobaleno. For the few teachers who didn't know what was going on, it was a surprise when instead of yelling and shouting, the indigo haired one had just raised a hand, and suddenly all the Arcobaleno had stilled for a few minutes, while Dumbledore gave one short, sharp gasp, and stilled. They had stayed that way for around five minutes with the students getting restless. After that, the Arcobaleno had suddenly appeared to get angry, then the hooded one had collapsed, and had to be caught by the one named Fon.

For the teachers who did know what was going on, they had all tensed when Dumbledore made that declaration. They weren't surprised by the psychic's investigation of his mind, though they weren't happy. What did surprise them was the psychic's neglect to cut the bond. They just thought he was careless. Moody knew the truth. This way, if he could access the psychic's mind, he could access Dumbledore's. Besides, now he had a way into the Arcobaleno. Lord Voldemort had expressed interest in them. And Moody knew. Take one, and the others will follow.

He smiled. Tonight he would put Harry Potter's name in the goblet. Best to go quickly, while the Arcobaleno were distracted.

**

* * *

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I got 6 reviews, and I am eternally grateful to all of you who reviewed! I got 6 reviews! 6! Yay! I'm so happy!**

**So, about the ColoLal in this scene, I'm not confident about it. So, please tell me if you like it or not. If no one says anything, I won't put anymore in, because I'll just assume you dislike it, because I'm like that. **

**Viper used one of his psychic abilities, and I hope you'll tell me what you think of that particular way of describing telepathy. I thought it fit with the Harry Potter way of talking about it. If you don't say something, again, I'll be unsure which way you want me to write those.**

**Sorry for the brevity of this chapter.**

**Sorry for the fact that not much REALLY happened in this chapter. It was going to, but I didn't have enough time. **

**If you have enough time, again, please please please review!**

**Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	7. The Imperius Curse and Mental Shields

**Chapter 7 is out. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authours.**

**I got a couple of reviews asking how Moody breached Viper's defences so easily. This is the explanation. **

**Basically, Viper was exhausted from dealing with Dumbledore, and on the verge of collapse (I decided to use this as an explanation for why he doesn't use his powers that much), so his defences weren't as high as normal. Still, they should have been able to keep Moody out, but he was open. He was drawing out of Dumbledore's mind, so he had to open his own, in order to leave and return. In this small window, he's vulnerable. Moody made use of that to hit him with his strongest killing intent. So, Moody didn't breach Viper's defences, Viper accidentally let him in. He'll spend awhile trying to get him out, too.**

**Does that make sense? If not, please say so and I'll try to explain better. **

**Next, I got one person saying they liked the ColoLal. So, I got encouragement, and there will be ColoLal. Not for a few chapters though, because they take a lot of space and kind of focus the plot of that chapter around themselves. They'll be big at the Yuletide Ball though.**

**I'm not sure when Moody's second class is, but I'm pretty sure it's before the drawing of the champions, because no one hates Harry yet.**

**Please Enjoy.**

* * *

Viper awoke with a start. He sat stock still in the armchair, and the only indication he was no longer asleep was the sudden straightening of his posture. His mind frantically backtracked, and he cursed himself for being so stupid. All the Arcobaleno in the room winced as his irritation travelled down their newly re-activated psychic bond.

"Are you quite done?" Lal snapped, after a minute or so of the pounding headache. "We let you into our minds, but I, for one, will not hesitate to kick you out if you do not leave immediately." Her answer was a slightly apologetic 'Myu'. Or, at least, the emotions flowing off the Mist Arcobaleno were slightly apologetic, his voice was as emotionless as ever.

There was a crisp, sharp mental snap and suddenly there was nothing binding the Arcobaleno together again.

"What happened, Viper?" that was Reborn, questioning and curious, but polite. "You lost consciousness. That's something that's only happened a few times before. I didn't think the old man was that strong."

"He wasn't, was he Viper?" Fon asked, gently as always. Viper shook his head. "Didn't you feel the bloodlust?"

"Sooooo, are we just supposed to beat that guy up? Can we just beat that guy up?" Skull's voice was a tad high pitched and grated against the ears. "And how did you let him in, anyway? I didn't think you were that weak."

Viper glared but didn't bother to respond.

"When he's returning, he has to leave himself open to all the psychic influences. So the bloodlust hit him hard, because he had no defences," Lal explained, then groaned and rubbed her temples. "You're so annoying, Skull! Whatever. Viper, you stay here, the rest of us are going out." Viper shook his head.

"No," he mumbled. "Moody's class today. Going to come. Help?" Naturally, it was Fon who helped him up.

The Arcobaleno made their slow, perilous way to Moody's class.

* * *

Skull felt his jaw drop in disbelief. Moody was going to use the Imperius curse on the students. _And the students were OK with it! _What were they being taught?

"Cast it on us, as well," Reborn's voice was smooth as honey, sweet and dripping with elegance. The Arcobaleno gulped. Reborn was in a bad mood. Moody was smiling, clearly believing he'd gotten an in. Reborn was also smiling, in a way too polite and really dangerous way. Colonello had gulped, audibly, and Lal was making frantic no motions at Moody with her hands. Viper had said 'Mu', managing to convey absolutely no emotion at all, and Fon's ever-present smile was becoming strained.

Skull considered all the viable options and chose to hide, surreptitiously of course, behind Fon. Moody grinned, obviously believing it was the curse they weren't happy about. Rather, Reborn was being scary, again!

Skull watched in disbelief as the class began to do outrageous things. Evidently none of them had encountered a Mist user before. He winced thinking what would happen should they run into Mukuro in a dark alleyway. Only one of them managed to resist at all, the boy who had gaped like a fish at them when the news had come out about their ages.

"Now," Moody said, turning to the Arcobaleno. "Who wants to go first?"

"Skull," Lal said, smiling at him in an all too predatory fashion.

"Eeeeh?" he screeched. "Why me?"

"Stop being such a baby," she snapped at him, dragging him out from behind Fon. He stood, lip sticking out in a petulant way, arms crossed and quite obviously pouting.

"Imperius!"

…

…

…

Where was the curse? Did he bother actually casting it?

…

…

…

ah, there it was, barely more than a whisper.

_Jump out the window. _Skull frowned. No, that's stupid. Why would he do that? _JUMP OUT THE WINDOW! _Now that was just rude. _NO! GO AWAY!_

Moody gasped, as the Imperius curse was easily revoked by the weakest member of the group.

* * *

"Imperius!"

Lal frowned. Unlike Skull, she had enough mental awareness to identify the intruder immediately. She instantly snapped at the pathetic presence to get out of her head, which he did, shocked.

"Imperius!"

_GO AWAY, KORA!_

Colonello was really too fed up with this guy to even let him into his mind to politely ask him to leave. He didn't even let him in.

* * *

"Imperius!"

_Fascinating. So this is the curse? _Reborn asked, mental voice still dripping honey.

_Wh-What Are you people?_

_Arcobaleno. Now go away._

* * *

"Imperius!"

Fon simply closed his eyes and allowed Moody to run into a wall, hearing his insistent voice in his head telling him to tell all of the Arcobaleno secrets. He frowned, slightly. That was rather rude. He told him so, as well. He then, very politely, asked him to get out of his head.

* * *

"Imperius!"

Viper struggled to keep his eyes open as Moody travelled down the connection, past his mental walls. Viper, in turn, left his own mind, allowing Moody to enter his, to find his body, an unresponsive husk. Moody could shout commands as long as he wanted, it would do no good. However, the Imperius curse raised one's mental awareness, and Moody caught wind of Viper's intentions. He raised sloppy shields, and kept him out. Viper returned to his mind with a jolt, then collapsed into Fon's arms again.

* * *

Moody fumed, silently. How DARE they keep him out. The Arcobaleno would be Lord Voldemort's! Not only the pacifiers they guarded, but their abilities. Each of the Arcobaleno were strong, even the failed one. If the Dark Lord could control them, the rest of the TriNiSette would fall into place.

He smiled. The first phase of the plan had already been laid with the connection with the psychic. The second had fallen in the cauldron last night. Today it would come to fruition. When the names were drawn.

* * *

Lal gave a sharp snort as the Beaxbaton girl walked up, an unsightly smirk on her face, flipping her face. How annoying. Did the headmistress truly believe such a pathetic girl could do anything? She was far too vain.

The Durmstrang boy had potential, but was far too weak-willed. Lal didn't really care. Let him die.

Cedric Diggory? Right, the pretty boy. She had forgotten the fact that this cauldron seemed to value looks over anything else, judging by the so-called 'champions' it had chosen. If those were 'champions' then Skull was stronger than Reborn. She pushed herself up with a sigh, and tugged at her former student's sleeve, indicating to Colonello it was time to go.

She didn't know much about wizard cauldrons, so she dismissed it more as a final flare for dramatic effect than anything else. Then Colonello was gripping her arm as a final name spat out, and her only thought was that there should only be three names.

For one of the few times of their lives, they all thought the complete same thing.

_That's not right._

**

* * *

So, sorry it's a bit short. I wanted to finish it today, but my computer has been malfunctioning lately. Badly. **

**Thanks for everyone who reviewed! I'm so grateful! If no one reviews, I never no what I'm doing right or wrong.**

**Sorry if the Moody bit was cheesy. It sounded cooler in my head, I swear!**

**There was a little bit of ColoLal, but not really.**

**I was told Viper showed up too much last chapter, so I'll try and shorten his appearances unless someone tells me else wise.**

**If you have time, please review.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	8. The Mystery of Psychic Signatures

**Chapter 8 is out. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authours.**

**So, I got a couple of complaints about how weak Viper was last chapter. Essentially, he was mentally exhausted by his psychic foray in Dumbledore's mind, which is why he doesn't use that power often. And he didn't get to recover. And, accidentally letting Moody in, like, psychically wounded him. And he had to fix that, which required even more energy, So don't worry, he's back to normal now!**

**As well, I was told that more Viper would be appreciated, which negates the review asking for less, so he'll show up again.**

* * *

No.

NonononononononononononoNO!

Something was very wrong.

Reborn tensed, teeth gritting as his eyes focused on the tiny slip of paper. He did not want to be embroiled in another conflict. Not when the curse had just been released. He felt his fingers twitch, and realized with a start that Leon was already in his hand, transformed into a gun.

Skull looked like he was about to yell in protest, but Fon's hand was over his mouth. Fon was staring, unblinking, at the one man who looked like he was happy, though he tried to hide it. Viper was looking relaxed, no change shown at all, but Reborn had a feeling his attention was focused on the same man. Colonello and Lal were discussing in hushed tones, with various COMUSBIN words coming out, code likely. Reborn too turned to the man, eyes narrowing as he analyzed the wizard.

Mad-Eye Moody.

He was definitely suspicious, and Viper had taken around half an hour last night haphazardly cutting the connection, and cursing his own stupidity.

"Yare yare," Viper began. "Something's suspicious."

"Come on," Fon said, eyes cool. "Let's go talk to them. I'm sure it was just a mistake."

"All in all, this tournament sounds like something I like to put my students through," Reborn said, earning him a strange yet terrified look from Skull, a weary glance from Fon, nothing from Viper, and nods of agreement from Lal and Colonello. "But this smells fishy."

Skull looked vaguely uncomfortable. Five pairs of eyes turned to him. Fon discreetly removed his hand.

"Skull," Reborn began, slowly, dangerously. "Did you bring your octopus? Is it in the lake?"

"I didn't think I smelled!" Skull said defensively. "And you guys brought your pets as well!" he gestured to Reborn's gun, the monkey perching idly on Fon's head, the frog on Viper's, and the eagle on Colonello's shoulder.

"Skull…" Fon began, patiently, as though he was talking to a frightened animal at the same time as explaining advanced calculus to a preschooler. "He didn't mean literally. He meant 'fishy' in the figurative sense." Lal and Colonello had the I-can't-believe-this-has-to-be-explained-to-you look on their faces.

Skull turned red.

"I knew that!" he protested. The other Arcobaleno were still giving him slightly condescending looks (or, rather, Colonello and Lal were) so he hastily pointed out that a shell-shocked Harry Potter was almost at the Champions' Room.

"Viper," Reborn indicated, and an indigo mist covered them, and when it cleared, they were gone.

* * *

Harry blinked. This could not be happening. This could _not _be happening. The Arcobaleno could not be arguing with Karkaroff, and winning. Though, when he said winning, it was more along the lines of one was threatening while the rest just hung about, looking bored. Harry's mind raced as he tried to recall what happened.

**Mini-Flashback to 5 minutes ago**

The Arcobaleno had arrived in the Mist. They had, politely, stated that the age spell was impossible to break. Karkaroff had not taken this well. They had, even more politely, decided to remind him that they knew what they were doing.

Unfortunately, they had very different ideas of politeness.

"What do you mean, we are just idiots who let themselves be turned into babies, kora?" Colonello shouted, and proceeded to punch Karkaroff in the cheek, sending him flying into a wall.

"Colonello," Reborn had stated, pushing past him and pressing his green gun to Karkaroff's head. "Sit down."

The rest of the Arcobaleno began to look bored and started doing things by themselves.

"Now, Karkaroff," Reborn began in that same honey sweet voice he had used with Moody. "Detail again what's wrong with us?"

**Flashback End**

Fon was feeding nuts to his monkey and teaching him tricks. Viper was counting some money. Colonello and Lal had pulled a couple of weapons Harry vaguely recognized as anti-tank artillery out and were reloading, cleaning, and doing basic maintenance on them. Skull was sulking in the corner.

The three chosen champions were looking vaguely shell-shocked. Crouch and Bagman were looking flustered and alarmed. Dumbledore and Madam Maxine seemed vaguely amused by the entire proceedings. Viktor looked like he would have liked to help, but it seemed too much trouble.

"Ahem," Fon cleared his throat, directing all attention to himself. "By stating that the boy somehow got past the Age Spell, you insinuate that he is, in fact, a better wizard than Dumbledore himself. Should this be the case, should he not be allowed to participate anyway?"

Silence reigned.

"Ze point is valid," Fleur Delacour said, reluctantly. Harry looked at her in surprise. He had not expected her to stick up for him. Apparently, neither had anyone else. She shrugged. "Vhat? I tire of this."

"But… Dumbly-Dorr, who would put in the boy's name?" Madam Maxine asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Someone wants him dead." Mad-Eye Moody's voice rasped through the building. All others directed their attention to him immediately, except for Harry. He still felt that this was so surreal, it was clearly a dream, so he was slow to turn, as if underwater. Which is why he was the only one who noticed the odd reactions of the Arcobaleno.

Skull tensed up, fingers curling slightly, and a splash echoed outside, which Harry found strange. Fon's monkey disappeared inside his sleeve, and he turned fast, faster than Harry had even known humans could move, eyes zeroing in on the figure. In fact, Harry hadn't even seen him move. Reborn spun around too, gun pointing at the ex-aurour, before lowering it slowly, in an almost reluctant fashion. The money disappeared from Viper's hands, and he too turned to Moody, mouth tensing, the closest Harry had ever seen to a real facial expression. Colonello and Lal re-holstered their guns, but left their hands trailing them.

The Arcobaleno clearly disliked Moody, and Harry had no idea why.

* * *

Moody smiled internally as the Arcobaleno turned to him. He was getting under their skin. And none of the fool teachers or 'champions' suspected anything, his concern for Potter was so real looking. He noticed that they did not contribute to the conversation, even as the conclusion that Potter could compete was reached. Everything was going his way.

He watched Crouch and Bagman turn to leave and smiled internally again. He was going to get away with it.

"Wait," a voice spoke out, with no emotions present. All eyes turned back to the hooded psychic.

"You," he said, pointing at Crouch, "And you." He pointed at Moody. Moody froze, wondering what was going on. What WAS going on? What was happening with the psychic? His next question was asked as calmly as if he was asking about the weather. In fact, it was a good deal calmer.

"Why do your psychic signatures feel so similar?"

…

Oh, _snap_.

* * *

Harry frowned. What did he mean, feel the same?

"I expect it's because of dealings with Dark Wizards in the past," Moody grunted. "Leaves an impression."

"That shouldn't leave this similar of an impression," Viper countered. He paused. "Yare yare, are you hiding something from us?"

"Enough, Arcobaleno," Dumbledore said. No one could have missed the obvious way they bristled at being ordered around. "There are often individuals with similar psychic signatures. I'm sure it's just a coincidence."

"Mu," Viper said, sounding unsatisfied. Colonello looked about to protest, but a quick glance at Lal stopped him. Lal in her turn glanced swiftly at Reborn, who nodded once slowly, a simple indication of approval, and when Lal turned back to Colonello, she looked far more confident and assured in her actions. Fon had a slight frown on his face, but said nothing. Reborn appeared deep in thought. Skull, on the other hand…

"Are you saying you doubt Viper?" he spoke, a bit higher than was necessary, truthfully, but not a yell. "And you can't order us around! We've been around a lot longer than-" he suddenly collapsed, with Fon behind him, his hand in the stereotypical karate chop position. He gently caught Skull.

"Sorry, Skull," he said gently. "But you're too loud."

Harry stared, jaw dropping. Everyone else in the room acted the same. The Arcobaleno, however, had shown no reaction except for looking vaguely relieved.

"We will look into this matter," Fon stated, calmly. "Please excuse us."

* * *

Viper sharpened his focus and the mist surrounded them, then raised both hands and invoked one of his psychic abilities, and with a green flash with a red afterimage they appeared in the corridor just outside the Great Hall. He frowned beneath his hood as the slight exhaustion that came with psychic powers hit him. It was the reason he didn't use them. Normally he just made them all invisible, and they just walked out.

It was the reason he lost to Mukuro.

In a baby's body, he found it difficult to summon the required energy to use those powers, and Mukuro had strong telepathic walls, accented by the girl being a latent psychic.

He disliked Moody. He hadn't used his powers in too long. He had expended too much excess energy. He had to start practicing again.

He felt the gazes of the Arcobaleno, except for the unconscious Skull, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"They're related," he stated. "They might not know it, but they're definitely related. No psychic signatures are that similar unless they're related. It might be coincidence that they're almost as exact as parent and child, but not that they're related."

Reborn nodded, slowly, thoughtfully.

"We'll have to keep a closer eye on him. He's hiding something."

**

* * *

So, thanks for all the reviews! I'm so glad someone saw the ColoLal! Though I got two or three only.. still! Thank you so much!**

**This chapter was hard to write, and I had to keep coming back. So it may be a bit disjointed. Don't be afraid to tell me.**

**I'm sorry about forgetting to explain Viper's weakness last chapter. Please tell me if you don't think I did so adequately!**

**And, also, I may have taken a few liberties with the whole Mukuro thing, but it's been bothering me to no end, and this is all I could think of. I would appreciate your comments on it all.**

**If you have the time, please review.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	9. Dragon Fire and Loss of Control

**Chapter 8 is here. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authours.**

* * *

Skull stared. And stared. And stared.

"Dragons?" his voice came out too high pitched, and he corrected himself. "Dragons?"

"Yup," Lal said, grinning in that predatory way, scars only highlighting the feral tendencies of her face. "Dragons. Wonder if they'll let me keep one?" this earned her some strange looks from the nearby wizards, and some mutterings of 'another Hagrid'.

"Agreed, Lal," Reborn said with a smile. "I'd love to pit Tsuna against one of these."

"This would really help out at Mafia Land, kora!" Colonello agreed enthusiastically.

Skull wanted to disappear as the odd looks intensified. Then the dragons roared.

"Eeep!" he hid behind Lal with a start. In hindsight, maybe not the best idea, as Lal's reaction to this was to push him out in front of the dragon.

Naturally, the dragon would choose that second to breathe fire.

Skull raised his arms and _moved_. He dodged to the side and hit the ground hard, so only half the fire washed over him. He wrapped his head in his hands and crouched down.

The fire hurt. It was hot, and hot and hot. !

When the fire cleared, he stood up, and stumbled over quickly to the other Arcobaleno, and sat down hard.

"What was that for Lal!" he yelled, more a statement than a question. "I've got burns! Burns!" he brandished his arm at her. In some places his suit had worn off, leaving behind some painful looking burns. "Why on Earth would you push me like that!"

Lal responded by kicking him.

"Cheh," she said. "Thought we'd finally gotten rid of you. That annoying cockroach-like ability to survive is the reason you were picked as an Arcobaleno!"

"Um" a slight voice distracted them from their conversation (argument with copious amounts of death threats). "How'r ur still alive?" Hagrid asked, obvious confusion painted over his face.

"That's Skull's only redeeming ability," Reborn explained. "He doesn't die." He leaned closer and looked at the burns. "Still… Fon, take Skull to the medical wing, get those burns looked at."

Fon leaned over and carefully picked Skull up, being careful not to agitate his burns. That didn't stop him from letting out a pained yelp and glaring at Lal, who was beginning to realize that pushing him into the middle of a really powerful dragon blowing really powerful fire may not have been the best idea.

But hell would freeze over before she'd apologize. Skull was that annoying.

* * *

Harry had watched all this with shock. Hagrid had told him to come and see this. He had been in awe at this. What he had not expected was to see one of the Arcobaleno push the other right in front of the dragon the second before he breathed fire.

He hadn't wanted to see anyone die.

So when the Arcobaleno had come out, a bit worse for wear but still most definitely alive, he had been shocked. He resolved to go to the hospital wing in the morning.

* * *

Cedric was not ready to believe him so simply, so Harry brought him and Hermione with him to the hospital wing. Ron… Ron had been cruel to Harry and refused to believe him. The Arcobaleno did, though, and so no one was really going to harm him.

They reached the hospital wing quickly, and walked in, to the tune of Skull's complaints, and Madam Pomfrey's badgering.

"Hold still, will you!" she yelled, frustrated.

"OW! I'll hold still if you'll stop poking me like that. OW! That stings!" Skull responded. Harry really was weirded out by him, now that he was getting a close look at him. For someone who was supposedly older than Dumbledore, he looked barely older than Harry, around Cedric's age.

In fact, Harry realized, all the Arcobaleno were quite young. Fon looked to be around twenty-five, and Lal only twenty! Colonello looked around nineteen, and Reborn maybe thirty. Viper was hard to tell, but he was maybe Colonello's age.

Harry recalled the curse with a start, and realized, with a sinking feeling, the lives they must have had to lead.

Cedric had caught his breath, and was staring at the burns.

"How did you get those?" he asked, morbidly curious.

"Dragons," he responded offhandedly, then yelped 'OW' again as Madam Pomfrey dabbed burn medication. "OW! Fon, what was that for?" Fon had hit him.

"We weren't supposed to tell them," he reminded him, gently of course. Harry was beginning to wonder, with an odd feeling in his stomach, if Fon smiled like that while killing.

He shook his head. Why would he think that he killed people? That was a stupid thought. Stupid Harry.

"OW!" Skull's voice snapped him out of his reverie, as he clutched his arm and pouted.

"How did you survive this anyway?" Madam Pomfrey snapped, throwing her arms up in the air.

"I dunno," Skull shrugged. "I always have been able to survive this stuff. They used to call me 'the Immortal Skull'!" he finished proudly, earning him another slap over the head.

"Now, be off with you," Madam Pomfrey shooed away Harry, Cedric, and Hermione. "I've got to finish treating the idiot."

Harry and Cedric hurried out after that, only to walk right into an argument between two of the Arcobaleno.

"Fine," Lal fumed, crossing her arms, a blush decorating her face, highlighting the horrific scars. "I shouldn't have pushed him into the dragon. But! But, I'm not going to apologize."

"Come on, Lal, kora!" Colonello leaned in, easy smile decorating his face, blue eyes twinkling, and Hermione blushed.

As Lal opened her mouth to respond, not meeting her former student's eyes, Cedric tugged the sleeves of their robes.

"We should go," he said quietly. "It's private."

They hesitated, then nodded and left.

* * *

The next few days had passed in a flurry of 'Accio broom!' Only one thing had stood out from the tedium. Moody had turned Draco into a ferret.

Viper had appeared out of the mist the second this had happened. Moody had jumped a mile.

"Yare yare," he said, and a faint touch of amusement lit up the usually emotionless voice. It seemed he got some pleasure from scaring the DADA teacher. "The one who always preaches of constant vigilance is caught…" a slow, ferocious smile spread across his face, and Harry felt a chill going down his face; he was showing emotion. "…without being vigilant."

Harry abruptly decided he had much preferred it when he had shown no emotion.

"All the money in the world could not get you out of the punishment I am allowed to give to you for harming a student. Allowed, did I say? More, required. Can't have the people thinking that it's OK, now can we?"

Harry went very pale, as the objects around them began to shift. He saw McGonagall arrive, but she seemed unable to move.

"Viper," Reborn's voice shattered the tense silence.

"Yes?"

"Control yourself."

"…yes."

The assembled crowd watched as the smile seemed to melt off his face.

"I apologize. I lost control of my emotions," his voice was melodic as always, soothing, and emotionless, such a sharp contrast to earlier that Harry felt himself shudder.

"We'll be going now," Reborn said, and instead of the slow mist that Harry had become accustomed to, Viper raised his arms and their forms seemed to vibrate, turning green with a red afterimage, and then they were gone.

"Careless, Viper," Reborn chastised the Mist Arcobaleno. "If you're going to show emotion, please don't let it be the sadistic side we all have."

"I apologize," Viper responded. "It won't happen again."

"I hope not," Reborn sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's hard enough to get them to trust us as is."

"The first task is soon," Fon said. "How are we going to handle it?"

"Same as everything else, I suppose," Skull said, raising bandaged hands. Even the 'Immortal Skull' didn't do too well against dragon fire.

Lal opened her mouth as if to make a biting remark, noted the bandages, and stopped, closing it abruptly.

"What do you think of that Moody, kora?" Colonello asked.

"I don't know," Reborn said with a sigh.

"I don't know."

**

* * *

So, I got no reviews. None. Not one for the last chapter. I don't feel happy about that. So I'm just going to assume you're too busy to review, but I'm not sure what you thought. So now I don't know what to think. So I don't know whether to write or not. So please give some reaction to this chapter.**

**There was some small ColoLal, but that's off-hand.**

**I apologize for the excess of Skull in this chapter. I just couldn't get the idea of him getting burned by dragon fire as an example of Arcobaleno abilities. So… tada! **

**If you have the time, please review. I would be really, really, grateful.**

**And, I want one of the Arcobaleno to get into a touch of trouble with Moody, which will lead to the story's climax (it's a surprise). So, clearly, it can't be Reborn, so please tell me which one you would like. So, please, review and vote!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	10. First Task and AntiTriNiSette Policy

**Chapter 10 is here. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authours.**

**I think you guys may have misunderstood something. It's not who fights Moody, it's who gets captured. So if you voted for a fight, sorry but your vote will not be counted ****.**

**Merry Christmas!**

* * *

Lal stared dubiously at the whisky cup in her hand. Reborn had decided it would be a 'treat' to get them all drunk during the first trial. She had no idea why he had come up with this 'brilliant plan'. She recalled him saying that it would lower the wizards' guard to act drunk.

"'Because everyone can hold their drinks, right?'" she mimicked, staring angrily at the cup in her hand. Why did he have to make it sound like a challenge? If it didn't sound like a challenge, she could have refused, like Viper and Skull. But no. Her stupid pride refused to let her back down.

"Lal, kora?" Colonello asked, leaning over her, causing her to blush.

"Wh-what?" she stuttered.

"Have you ever drunk, kora?" he asked, eyes glistening in concern.

…

"Because you shouldn't start now if you never have before, kora!"

…

"Sh-shut up! Not such a big deal!" she blustered, then tipped it back and downed it one shot, ignoring his protests.

"GAH!" she spluttered as the thing burned her throat and chest. "What is that? It's horrible!" she looked up, to see a laughing Colonello.

"You better have a high alcohol tolerance, kora! Let's go see the champions, kora!"

He tugged Lal with him, and they walked over to the other Arcobaleno. Viper nodded greeting, Skull ignored them, as he was still sulking over the whole dragon thing, Fon smiled and bowed, and Reborn also nodded. An indigo mist covered them, and when it disappeared, they were invisible. They moved over to the champions' tent and easily walked past the wizard guards. The mist cleared and they stood in front of the champions.

The champions, Lal noticed with scorn, looked about ready to throw up.

* * *

Harry glanced up from his mini version of a Norwegian Ridgeback; Lal recognized it as the dragon that had burned Skull. Evidently, he did as well, as he fingered his bandages self-consciously, and Lal felt another twinge of guilt. She promptly ignored it.

Harry felt sick as he looked at the bandages. This man was called immortal, and yet he still was hurt that badly. What would it do to Harry? Kill him. Easily.

"Nervous, kid?" grinned Skull, which earned him another, solid, whap over the head.

Actually, it was four. Colonello, Lal, and Reborn joined in this time. Skull winced, rubbing the spot. Lal had accidentally hit him right where one of the bandages was. Lal opened her mouth, looked slightly apologetic, then shut it, crossed her arms, and turned away.

"I don't get it, kora!" Colonello remarked. "But, isn't it like a stunt, kora? So, Skull, say something, kora!"

…

"Eeeeeeh?" the topic of Colonello's attention screeched. "Me? No! NO! I refuse! I refu-*gack* OW! What was that for? Reborn-senpai! … Fine! Fine, I will!" harry and the other champions watched in respect as Reborn, without saying a word, convinced the other Arcobaleno to do something he clearly didn't want to.

"Um, OK!" Skull snapped, looking unhappy and it was clear he would just try and get this over as quickly as possible. "When I used to do stunts, I would prepare as best I could. And the first time I did a really dangerous one I got really nervous right before I did I broke my right arm in three places. So the next one I just did what I had always done before. I would just trust what I had done. I realized I couldn't prepare anymore and worrying would just distract me from the stunt. So I didn't bother with nerves. I just concentrated on the stunt. And so… I never got hurt." He cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. "So… trust your training. Yeah. Done."

There was an awkward silence as the champions processed this. It made sense.

For a few seconds Harry felt really calm, and like it all was going to be OK.

Then he heard the dragon roar, and the feeling was back in his stomach. He got to watch the Arcobaleno's interesting reactions to this. Skull threw up his hands in the air, basically saying, 'I tried'. Reborn frowned, then for some odd reason began to raise a green gun. Fon stopped him, lightly shaking his head. Viper shrugged, and said "Myu". Lal rolled her eyes, and Colonello laughed.

"OK, so, we tried, and it didn't work," Skull complained, hooking his hands behind his head. "so… done? Can we go now?"

Harry smiled as this earned him four more whaps upside the head, leaving him crouching on the ground rubbing it.

Then the first champion's name was called.

* * *

Moody watched the show, catching his breath when the Potter boy's dragon got off the chain. Luckily, however, the boy survived. Lord Voldemort would not wish for his blood to run dry.

Moody returned to contemplating the bubbling mixture he held in his hand. Lord Voldemort had said that it could completely incapacitate the Arcobaleno, the mere scent of it rendering them unconscious and unable to move. He called it the 'Anti TriNiSette Policy'.

He said that drinking it would knock them out for hours, and, in solidified form, it would have the same effect as them breathing it in.

Moody gave it a dubious gaze and decided to give it a test.

* * *

Fon sighed as he watched the other Arcobaleno sit, stock-still, staring at the clock.

"It's midnight," Reborn noted. The others nodded mutely.

"And we're still no closer to figuring out exactly how the dragon's chain broke," Lal said, glumly.

"And I for one can't sleep until we do, kora!" Colonello said, then added, as an afterthought, "Although I want to."

"Drink this, then," Moody's voice grated harshly against their ears. He had surprised them.

This was not an intelligent idea.

* * *

Moody gulped as he realized the compromising position he had put himself in.

He had no less than four guns pointed at him. Reborn's bright green pistol was clutched in his grasp, and he obviously had no qualms about pulling the trigger. Skull as well pointed a pistol at him. Lal had a sub-machine gun directed his way, and Colonello had somehow gotten a hold of anti-tank artillery. Moody was very glad the Dark Lord had forced him to learn something about basic Muggle weaponry when he heard he would be interacting with the Arcobaleno.

Fon had managed to get behind him in less than half a second, and his arms encircled Moody's neck in a choke position. Moody gulped again, audibly, as it suddenly came to him with fascinating clarity how easily the Chinese Arcobaleno could snap his neck.

Viper had one hand raised, which would not be that alarming, under normal circumstances. These, however, were not normal circumstances, because the owner of that hand was the Mist Arcobaleno. Moody's entire lower half was frozen in a block of ice, and his breath was coming in short sharp gasps.

He held out the potion as an offering.

"This is a special potion that Madam Pomfrey made," he said, and was very proud of the fact that his voice did not shake. "it should work on you even though your curse destroys most potions' effects because of the pacifier's purifying effects." The speech was well written. Naturally, Lord Voldemort had written it.

The Arcobaleno looked unsure, although they lowered their weapons. In Viper's case, this consisted of lowering his hand. Fon simply disappeared from behind him. Moody gasped as feeling returned to his lower body, and then he gasped again, happy he could now breathe properly.

"Dumbledore requested you try it," he grunted, "because the other headmasters are suspicious of you wandering around at night. Please drink some, he said, or he'd have to ask you to leave." He watched the Arcobaleno become irritated as he spoke. He smirked internally. This was perfect. They'd become less trusting of Dumbledore and less likely to speak to him if they got suspicious.

"Fine," Reborn said shortly. "give it to us. Now." Then the Arcobaleno turned on their heels and left. Moody smiled externally this time. This was going to be interesting.

* * *

None of them wanted to be seen while sleeping, so they split up. Reborn walked into his room and sat on the bed. He frowned at the sparkling green drink. Who made a sparkly green potion, anyway? It's not like it would mesh well with food.

He sighed, putting it down to wizards and their useless eccentricities. He downed it all in one gulp, then sat back to patiently await the results.

They came sooner than he expected. His eyes shut, and he swayed, unsteady. What was wrong with him? He couldn't move. He collapsed as all his muscles stopped working. He tried to breathe but it was so hard.

Next thing he knew, darkness crept in and he was unconscious.

* * *

Fon got out a gyoza bun and set it beside the potion, to get rid of the taste. He glanced at the potion, drank it quickly, then stopped to eat the bun.

As he was going to take the first bite, however, his muscles spasmed, locking in place. His muscles then relaxed, completely, eyes closing.

The bun hit the floor with a soft _thwap_, followed by a heavy _thump_ as Fon followed it, unconscious within seconds.

* * *

Lal was stopped by Colonello on her way to her room.

"Hey, kora!" Colonello grabbed her arm and her attention, so he really should have expected being thrown over her shoulder as she used the COMUSBIN martial arts on him. He hit the ground in the proper break fall position, then pushed himself up.

"Because the curse isn't as strong for you, maybe you could be with me when the potion hits me so nothing bad happens, kora?" he grinned up at her. Lal blushed and looked away, hand tracing the disfiguring scar sadly. It wouldn't make a difference, she knew, but she didn't really mind, and she certainly wasn't going to remind him of that fact.

"Fine…" she muttered, and they walked to his room (she would never let him into her's) and took the potion.

The effects were instantaneous. Her eyes widened as she lost control, and she fought, but she didn't fight hard enough and she was falling falling falling and she hit the ground hard and she couldn't break it because of the potion and she closed her eyes, finally shutting out the look of alarm in his.

* * *

Viper stared at the potion. He stared at it, then walked into the restroom, and dumped it down the toilet. The day he drank something Moody gave him would be the day he died.

He sat on his bed, and used his own illusions to force himself to sleep. He would sleep until the others awoke, and to all eyes, look as if he was comatose. He disliked it, as it would require quite a bit of energy and he would be basically defenceless while it occurred, but it was better than the potion.

* * *

Skull sat down and winced as he agitated one of the many painful burns that decorated his body. His only skill, his greatest talent, was surviving but even that couldn't' save him from dragon fire.

He took the potion gratefully, welcoming sleep the pain of the burns normally deprived him of.

His eyes widened in alarm as his muscles stopped working, and he collapsed on the bed, sending rivulets of pain through his burns but unable to move. Then he couldn't feel the burns, which would normally be good, but was bad then because he couldn't feel anything at all except for a haze.

His eyes closed as the potion took hold and his last thought was fear.

* * *

When Moody walked in later to see all the Arcobaleno on the bed or the ground but all clearly dead to the world, he smiled.

This was going to work.

**

* * *

So, I got a few votes. And so it was narrowed down a bit to these choices.**

**Lal and Skull.**

**Skull.**

**Viper.**

**Skull and Viper.**

**Lal. **

**Fon.**

**Lal and Viper.**

**These combinations are the only ones that make sense, so please pick one and vote. I warn you, however, it is not to who will fight Moody. That is another thing. It will involve Mafia style torture (but not graphic) so that's not what I'm asking.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed and/or voted! I am eternally grateful.**

**Next chapter will be mainly ColoLal, because it will be the Yuletide Ball! With sides of paranoid Reborn and a Moody hunt.**

**In a chapter coming soon, (I just need to figure out which one), it will be focused mainly on Fon, because I got a request for that.**

**If you have the time, please review.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**I hope you enjoy the chapter!**


	11. The Yuletide Ball

**Chapter 11 is here. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authours.**

* * *

Fon awoke with a gasp. He winced, and put a hand to his head; it was bleeding. He must have hit it when he collapsed. He winced as he sat up, noting the slight muscle tremors that still wracked his body. He resolved never to allow himself to drink a potion again. He winced again, he wasn't used to wounds, due to the fact that he normally easily broke his own falls.

He winces again as he stands up and the room spins, and walks over to the cabinet. He pulls out some Muggle head medication (the curse didn't do anything against those) and downs it, quickly. The room starts spinning after a good five minutes of patiently waiting. Then he goes, and throws up the green, sparkly potion. The medicine goes with it, but he instantly feels better.

He frowns. He thought it was his head wound that was making him dizzy. He wonders, yet again, just what that potion was.

He shakes his head and walks out into the corridor, meeting up with the other Arcobaleno. He notices, with interest, that Lal is missing, but dismisses it.

"So, do any of us know what that substance was?" Fon asks, extending his arm for his monkey to land on.

"I didn't drink it," Viper answers. "However, this gave me a good position to view the effects on you. It resembles the Anti TriNiSette policy…"

"A coincidence?" Skull is changing his bandages, rubbing burn ointment on.

"Maybe…" Reborn is deep in thought. "Verde did say he discovered it by accident. And it's plausible that they found it and noticed it could break through our curse's protection. I doubt they thought it was anything but a strong sleeping draught… still, we can never be too careful."

Fon closes his eyes, memories flashing behind them. It had been quite the surprise the day that his memories of the future had returned to him. It hadn't been a good surprise either. The first thing he had done was check on Aria.

He recalled meeting the other Arcobaleno there as well. None of them were very happy. He supposed that suddenly gaining a bunch of traumatizing memories, including ones of your own death, could do that you. Viper had found some interest in the Fran child, but he was nowhere near strong enough to take his place yet. Viper and Colonello had steadfastly refused to look at each other, either.

Fon had died before them so he wasn't quite sure what was wrong, but he had a feeling it had to do with the way they had died.

Fon was broken out of his musings by the door slamming, a panting Lal holding it open. What was surprising was the raw fear in her eyes; Fon had never, ever, seen Lal afraid of anything. They all waited with bated breath for her to say what was wrong.

"We have a problem," she stated simply. They all nodded, they had gathered by the look on her face.

"There's going to be a ball."

…

…

…

"Um, Lal," Fon said, gently raising a hand while the others were still processing it, "that's not really a cause for concern."

Lal shook her head, clearly frustrated with their idiocy.

"No," she scolded him, "You don't get it! We're supposed to set an example for the students by going with someone!"

…

"Oh," Fon said simply.

…

Then all hell broke loose.

* * *

Colonello blinked. And blinked again. He blinked again, faster and faster, so fast it was a wonder his eyes didn't fall off. Then he felt like he was floating, above all the chaos spewing from the other Arcobaleno. He heard Skull suggest something idiotic involving illusions making half of them female. He didn't get much farther as he was hit again, harder than normal for that piece of sheer idiocy. Viper had disappeared immediately upon hearing this.

Colonello blinked again, eyes feeling like they were heavier than iron. He looked at Lal, who blushed and turned away. He knew whom he wanted to ask. He just didn't know of he could do it.

He contemplated all the different ways he could ask her. He sighed.

Most boys didn't have the issue of their date getting embarrassed and trying to kill him.

* * *

Lal watched as Colonello blinked over and over again, continuously shutting off those bright blue eyes, then opening them again. Her hand lifted and traced the scar. What would she do if he asked her? He wouldn't. No. He only had interest in feminine women.

Lal frowned, and walked out.

On her way out, she bumped into someone. Not thinking clearly, she socked him across the jaw. It was only when she looked up that she realized it was Colonello. Her first instinct was to scream at him that she was sorry, and her second instinct was very different, and much harsher.

She went with the second one.

"Why didn't you dodge it?" she yelled. "I thought I trained you better than that!" he at up, rubbing his cheek and smiling infectiously.

"That's 'cause I was thinking, kora!" he chortled happily. He looked her over quickly, causing a deepening of her blush. "Will you wear a dress to the ball?"

"O-of course!" she snapped at him.

"Then go with me, kora!" he grinned cheerfully, blue eyes twinkling again.

…

…

…

Her mind spun, trying to think up an eloquent response.

…

…

…

"Eh?"

….

REAL eloquent, Lal.

"Well, because, you know, we have to go with someone, and so, I just, kinda, thought… yeah," Colonello finished, finally seeming to register just how awkward this conversation was.

"U-um, OK," Lal said. "I mean, it's better than just asking a student, right?"

For a few seconds they both stood there, and tentatively started to smile. And everything was perfect.

Then Lal decided he was getting too presumptuous and through him out the window.

* * *

Lal fidgeted. Reborn had, in his own special way, negotiated with the Headmasters. So that only Lal, being the only female, had to have a partner. She had protested heavily that this was sexist, which earned her a sad look from Colonello about how she didn't want to go with him, so she was instantly quiet and stalked off.

She fingered her dress. It was the same shade as her hair and simple. I was sleeveless and long, and she hated it. She felt completely exposed. She met Colonello outside the Great Hall and was speechless. He wore a suit with a blue undershirt and had taken off his bandanna. He smiled and she nearly fainted. As things were, her blush died her crimson.

"You look gorgeous, kora!" he told her, happily. He held out his arm.

"Shall we dance?"

* * *

Harry's green robes stood out. He had danced his first dance, and luckily not hurt himself, his partner, or a single bystander. The ball was fun, but without a doubt, the main attraction was the two Arcobaleno.

They were both beautiful, and although the scar was disfiguring, it could be easily overlooked. They were expert dancers, but he supposed if they were as old as they said they'd have to be. So Harry was quiet, and he just watched them dance.

The other Arcobaleno wore suits as well, Muggle suits, with the undershirt coloured in the colours of the rainbow. Except for Viper. Interestingly enough, he didn't change at all, opting to keep his normal clothes. They looked intensely uncomfortable at the ball, and were also opting to just watch their two fellows. He couldn't help but smile as he watched them watch their comrades with an almost reverent look on their faces. He couldn't understand why they seemed so relieved, or why he had most definitely heard Skull say, 'Thank goodness she hasn't thrown him out a window yet'. He was glad he had made up with Ron. Ron, who still hated the Arcobaleno. Harry sighed. Frankly, he wasn't fond of them either. They were scary. but he just couldn't hate them, especially while watching the two dancers blush until everything was crimson.

* * *

Colonello looked into Lal's eyes and she looked away, blocking the scar from view. He rather liked the scar. It showed who she was; a strong capable woman. He honestly couldn't care less about her femininity. He just wished she'd be happy. And then she slowly raised her eyes to his.

And they met each other's eyes and smiled, hesitantly.

And everything was perfect.

**

* * *

Gah… that sucked. Sorry for how bad this chapter was. I suck at romance. Sorry about that. It's short too, really short. I just couldn't make it longer. It was like writing through fog. Next one will be better, I promise!**

**So, thanks to all who voted! So far, it's clear some choices need to be eliminated.**

**So this is what's left;**

**Skull and Lal**

**Lal and Viper**

**Skull**

**Viper**

**Fon**

**Please choose one of these.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed. I am in your debt!**

**Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	12. Mysteries of the Egg and the Arcobaleno

**Chapter 12 is out. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authours.**

* * *

Fon sat on the bed and idly fingered the egg. It was a pretty thing, ornate and golden. And completely immobile. He wasn't going to open it, he thought to himself. He had heard that it released a horrendous noise when opened. He had also heard the sound. The whole school had heard it, when each of the 'champions' at one point or the other had opened it.

Fon sighed. He simply could not bring himself to think of the 'champions' without mentally adding quotes. He supposed this could be because of the fact that he had met plants with more courage and strength. And he meant flowers. Not the giant man-eating wizard plants that the magic folk kept for some bizarre and incomprehensible reason.

Fon got an idea. He concentrated, and drew his Storm flames to him. He smiled as he felt them rushing through his body. Then he channelled it into the egg. It was with great surprise that he realized that the egg was accepting it. It wasn't rejecting his flames of Dying Will; it was, in fact, taking them. He smiled and sent more in. The egg was beginning to glow red, and the flames were starting to flicker around it. The egg began to shake violently, and he, paused for a moment, unsure as to whether or not to continue. He mentally dismissed it and sent in a fresh batch. He felt the egg greedily sucking it up and went to put more in, when suddenly-

"What are you doing?"

-the door opened.

"What do you mean?" Fon asked, looking up, and cutting short the charge of flames whilst reclaiming his from the egg. It destroyed quite a bit of progress, but he didn't want to leave an egg with Storm flames behind. It would be disastrous the next time it was opened. Harry Potter and his ex-best friend Ron Weasley stood there, openly staring. Apparently they were friends again. _Oh, how fickle these children be, _he thought with amusement, gazing at the two children.

"That's my bed," Harry managed.

"So it is," Fon replied, one of those gentle smiles spreading across his face.

"That's my egg," Harry continued, obviously trying to get something across.

"Is it now?" Fon asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Yes," Harry affirmed, looking more sure of himself now. "So, why do you have it?"

"I simply wished to see if I could open it," Fon answered, truthfully, although with a shrug.

"Why?" Ron finally found his voice, and there was anger in it. "Couldn't you an the rest of those Arcobaleno blokes get your own?"

"It would seem we have not been trusted with that information," Fon answered with another easy shrug.

"How did you get in here?" Harry asked, seeming to suddenly realize that Fon should not, in all truth, have been able to find his way inside.

"I have my ways," Fon said, accompanied with a vague gesture towards the oversized window that was simply begging for an assassin to come through. He leaned over to put down the egg.

"Wait, STOP!" Fon looked up, and raised an eyebrow. Both children were pointing their sticks at him as if expecting him to cower in fear. They clearly did not have any intention to allow him to simply depart. Fon put down the egg, and stood up, though the children both said, 'I'm warning you,' and 'Didn't I say to stop?'

"Pe-" Harry began his spell, the full body bind if Fon was correct, but didn't get farther than that. The reason seemed to be that Fon was not, in fact on the bed any longer, but standing on the sill of the now open window, and happily twirling Harry's wand in his fingers.

"This is yours," he told the boy, and tossed it back to Harry, then jumped backwards out the window. He felt, more than saw, the two children run to the window afterwards, as he caught the sill of the window below theirs, and pulled himself up into a one hand handstand. He vaulted out of this into a standing position, then ran off along the sills until he found his own and ducked inside.

* * *

Harry stood at the window for a very long time, staring outside at the ledge below. He had no idea what had just happened. He had a feeling, however, that the man was not human. He had had his doubts about the Arcobaleno from the start, but that… he wasn't even sure what that was.

One thing he knew though.

From today on, the window would stay locked.

* * *

The room was silent after Fon had made his announcement. All the Arcobaleno were deep within their own thoughts. Viper was not there. He had been sent to do his own reconnaissance.

"It's probably best if you don't try that again, Fon," Reborn finally said, breaking the silence effectively. Fon raised his eyebrows.

"Why?" it was Skull who asked the question, the telltale hint of a whine creeping into his voice.

"Because of the nature of his flame," Reborn explained. "The egg screams, correct? So Storm's destruction would not be good for it. Following that logic, Sun's Activation, Cloud's Propagation, Mist's Construction and Lightning' Solidification would not be good for it. Sky's Harmonization would be ideal, but we have no one who can use that. Rain's Tranquilization will have to do. So, Colonello, we'll have to have you do it next time, OK?" Colonello nodded affirmation to this.

"Do we have someone that can use the Lightning flame?" Skull asked, causing Lal to sigh and hit him again.

"Idiot! Viper can use all but Sky, just not well, but well enough to activate a ring," she chided, with a roll of her eyes. "Do you pay any attention to us in battle, or are you just busy trying to survive?"

"We don't fight together that often!" Skull protested, crossing his arms. "And I've only ever seen him use Mist flames!"

"Yare yare," the two words announced Viper's arrival as the indigo mist cleared. "Skull, somehow, is right. I have very little to no control over the others, so I don't ever use them in battle."

"What did you find, Viper?" asked Reborn, sharp eyes turning sharper with curiosity.

"The egg will activate only when under water," Viper answered.

"How did you figure that out, kora?" Colonello asked, though he was distracted by the knife he was balancing on his fingertip.

"One of the teachers was thinking quite loudly about it," he answered, floating over to a chair and sitting down. "I barely had to expend any energy. They really should do something about their confidentiality. But then again," his tone became mildly disapproving. "We should as well."

The other Arcobaleno all nodded agreement.

"We let our guard down because of our status," Reborn said with a sigh, tugging his fedora down. "And we allowed ourselves to drink that potion made by Moody, because we thought the wizards wouldn't dare do anything at all in this so-called 'Holy Place'. We were careless, and it cost us. It's a good thing Viper used illusions, but we can't do that again, understood?"

Nods answered him.

* * *

Harry sat in the bath, listening to the mermaid's song. He thought of how he was supposed to breathe underwater and again drew a blank.

"So that is what it sounds like," Fon commented thoughtfully.

"Wha-" Harry stuttered to see Fon sitting beside him, fully clothed, in the water, still heavy with bubbles. "What are you doing?"

"Well," Fon said easily. "We could have heard the message by asking Viper to use his psychic abilities, but it would have inconvenienced him, so we thought we'd just do this." He frowned, "I'm not looking forward to drying these clothes again though." He shook an oversized sleeve. "Or my hair. My braid's a bit of a problem."

Harry was speechless. He just couldn't say anything.

"Well, thank you Harry," Fon said with a smile and a bow, and then he straightened up again. "Goodbye and good luck!"

And with that, he somehow leapt out of the water and up to the very top of the window, which was open, closing it as he fell out the other side, monkey matching pace with him exactly. Harry blinked at this and decided that the monkey and Fon were very similar.

In fact, Harry was pretty sure Fon was part monkey as well.

**

* * *

So, this was Fon's chapter. Because I have been under-appreciating him. To build up tension for the maybe kidnapping, Skull and Lal, and Viper will all have a chapter coming up.**

**I got one review. Thank you ****deaththekidluver08! I am eternally grateful!**

**Please vote!**

**If you have the time, please review. I will be very thankful.**

**Thank you for reading!**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**


	13. Skull's Task

**Chapter 13 is out. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authours.**

* * *

Skull shifted nervously. His hands balled in the tough material of his motorcycle uniform. He stared at Lal, and she met his eyes evenly. He tried the plaintive look. He tried everything. But she just kept on staring.

"You have got to be joking," he said, plainly and without flourishes.

"No, I'm not," she said, just as plainly, but firmly. Very firmly.

Skull sighed.

"Remind me again why I have to be the one to do this job?" he asked, then put up a hand to stop her. "No, don't bother. I know. I'm the closest to their age group and the only one they've ever actually talked to. I know. I KNOW, OK? So what's the plan? Tell me again."

"Fine," Lal said, rolling her eyes and purposely not looking at the bandages still covering him. Back before the curse, all the Arcobaleno, (excluding Colonello, who wasn't originally supposed to be one anyway) had gotten used to seeing him with bandages covering various parts of his body. Luce had often scolded him for his blatant disregard for personal safety. But he had been in a much safer position recently, and she was not used to seeing him in his old form as well, much less covered in bandages. And these were far beyond even his norm. She probably wouldn't have cared if it wasn't her fault.

"…Earth to Lal? I heard a subordinate using this the other day. Helloooooo. Lal, you in there?" Skull was attempting to attract her attention. She wondered if he was trying to use every obnoxious expression he had picked up to be annoying. As babies they were all the same age, so it was easy to forget just how young some of them were. Viper was much younger than one who had only met his infant form would guess. He made up for it for never showing the top half of his face.

But Skull… Skull was blatantly younger than all of them, which was mainly the cause for him being an errand boy back then. He would not be happy if she said it to his face though.

Lal looked up again.

…

Skull had graduated to annoying, attention grabbing arm movements. She stopped herself from chucking him out the window, mainly because there were none, and proceeded to explain.

"Pay attention," she snapped. "I'm not saying this again. Reborn, in a ploy to attract more trust that we really don't deserve, has offered to do the most hated task in this stupid Tri-Wizard Tournament. Get the kids and knock them unconscious. Viper can do this with his illusions, and we all could probably with our flames, but it'll be easiest if Viper does it. But first we need to get them. To promote a trusting attitude, you're going."

Skull groaned and complained and did, eventually, get chucked out of a window when his voice reached the whine pitch.

* * *

Harry blinked as he stared at Skull, who was standing in the library in front of him.

"Hi," Skull repeated, obviously in a bad mood. This in and of itself was not actually that surprising, in fact, he was one of the Arcobaleno that spent their lives eternally angry about something, with breaks for the other emotions. It was like irritation was their default setting or something. Harry had a feeling that, behind the United Front, the Arcobaleno didn't actually get along very well. Or at all.

Although Harry thought that Skull had a very good reason to be so upset, seeing as he was disgustedly pulling kelp off himself and that he was sopping wet. Madam Pinch looked about to blow a gasket.

"Hello…?" Harry responded hesitantly. "Why are you wet?"

"Hah!" he snorted, before muttering something. Harry distinctly heard 'the lake was just outside the closest window to Lal and I. Damn crazy homicidal maniac'. One glance at Hermione and Ron's faces told him they'd heard the same thing.

"So, what do you want?" Harry asked slowly.

"You two," he declared, jabbing a finger at Hermione and Ron. "Come with me."

"Us?" Hermione ventured. "Not Harry?"

He rolled his eyes, "Of course not Harry, I would have said Harry if it was. Come on."

Harry watched nervously as Hermione and Ron followed the unhappy Arcobaleno out.

* * *

Skull stormed down the hallway. He was still unhappy about being thrown out the window. His burns hurt. They were taking too long to heal! Luckily his octopus had helped him out of the lake, because there were some creatures in there that did not appreciate being disturbed.

He sighed. He was going to have to change the bandages again. Ah, well, no sense in waiting. He reached up, and with a quick zip, undid the top half of his uniform, the part covering his torso and arms. He'd have to do this again, and change, later, but Reborn-senpai and Colonello-senpai would kill him if he took the time off now. He winced as he shrugged the top half of his uniform off, while walking, and went to take off the bandages, wincing again as it agitated his burns.

He heard a small gasp and turned around to the two students. He had nothing but contempt for them. They made mountains out of molehills as a part of their daily ritual. The girl was red as the boy's hair, but she was obviously concerned. She was the one who had gasped. The boy was also red, but he was staring quite fixedly at Skull's back, which, Skull now noticed, the girl was looking anywhere but at.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, continuing to strip off the bandages as he fished another role out from somewhere. He had stopped out of courtesy and was awaiting their response.

"Scars," the boy said. The girl hit him, and he winced, thinking of Lal and her punishments.

"Sorry for seeming intruding, but you do have an awful lot," she said, nervously.

"I have no idea what you mean," he said, treating her to a rare blank look.

"There are a lot of scars," she said, gesturing nervously, "All over your back." She then added, almost as an afterthought, "and front."

Skull sighed. Changing the bandages would have to wait. He quickly reapplied the ones he had torn off and zipped up his uniform.

"What do you want to know?" he asked, valiantly resisting the urge to start calling them all idiots. Reborn-senpai and Colonello-senpai had given him a very stern talking to about acting superior.

"How did you get them?" the girl squeaked out.

"Do you know what a stuntman is?" he asked. The girl nodded while the boy looked confused.

"I did that for awhile," he answered. "Oh, we're here."

He watched the Indigo Mist creeping out from beneath the door and the confused looking children collapse. Lal came out and caught them.

"Hey," he said.

"What?" Lal looked irritated.

"Do you remember, when we first met, I used to call you Lal-oneechan (1)?" he asked. She blushed, as she did often. "That was nice. I stopped because we were made into infants. I'll call you that again." He smiled and ran off before she could recover her head enough to kill him. He had no doubts the rest of the Arcobaleno had heard, so he thought he would just call her that again.

* * *

Skull found the Ravenclaw girl in her common room. He had had to wait for her to come out of the dormitory, because one thing all the Arcobaleno knew was to never, under any circumstances, go into the girl's dorm if you were not a girl.

Skull shuddered at the memories, paying no attention to the girl walking silently behind him as he approached the part-veela.

"Your sister needs to come with me," he said, "Now."

"Vhy?" asked the nervous part-veela.

"Part of the Tri-Wizard tournament," he explained with a shrug. "No questions asked," he reminded her, in the Arcobaleno definition of politeness.

In other words, he basically released a ton of killing intent so she gave her to him quickly then ran away.

* * *

Lal watched as Skull changed the bandages, before going over and helping him. Before the curse that had made them what they were, she had been closest to him (2). She thought maybe they could try that again.

She still wasn't going to apologize though.

**

* * *

So, yeah, I have some explaining to do. Both (1) and (2) are true, I just completely forgot about it. I apologize. That shall now be fixed. They will still, however, be angry at each other.**

**No update on the voting. Only a few more chapters, then I'm picking. There will, however, be a new vote.**

**Please review if you have the time.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed! You have my eternal thanks!**

**Thank you for reading!**

**I hope you enjoy the chapter.**


	14. In the Lake and Memories of Death

**Chapter 14 is out. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authours.**

* * *

They stood at the edge of the lake, staring at it. Lal shifted unhappily. Slung over her shoulder was the Ravenclaw girl, Cho Chang. She shifted again, and looked at the other Arcobaleno. Fon was gently holding the part veela in a bridal carry. Skull was holding the Gryffindor redheaded boy at arm's length by the collar, frowning in distaste. The Gryffindor girl was floating by Viper, courtesy of either his psychic powers or an illusion. Lal could not tell which.

"Now all we have to do is get them underwater," Reborn announced. "Any ideas?"

"Lal and I could do it, kora!" Colonello volunteered them. "Because of our COMUSBIN training." Reborn nodded slowly in contemplation.

"But neither of you can breathe underwater," he raised a hand to silence their protests, "And while I am aware that both of you can hold your breath for a very long period of time, that still leaves the issue of communication." He thought for a second, "Lal and Viper will go."

Lal had intended to protest, but one look at Reborn's sharp eyes silenced all retorts in her throat.

She nodded at Colonello, took a deep breath and dove into the water. A few seconds later, Viper followed, keeping up with her using Fantasma in Ouruboros form. The four children were propelled behind them, attached by ropes to Lal and Viper's feet. They reached the bottom of the lake swiftly.

As they descended, Lal thought. It was the first time she had been alone with Viper ever since she had received the memories of the future. Thinking back, she very rarely actually met Viper and had only met him outside of the meetings of I'Prescelti Sette (1) before they had become Arcobaleno.

She had never truly known what to make of him. He very rarely showed emotion, and when he did, it frightened her. It was always either anger or a sadistic smile. The only other times she had seen emotion had been fear a few times and surprise and awe while looking at the Arcobaleno pacifiers on the day they were to receive the curse. Even when the curse struck them she had only seen him show mild frustration and anger.

So she had absolutely no idea what had prompted him to take his own life.

_Does it matter? _Lal jerked around in surprise as the voice echoed inside her head. It was Viper's voice, clearly. She didn't know how to speak without opening her mouth and having to have him aid her in breathing underwater, and she would gladly drown before that happened.

_Think it, and I'll hear, _Viper's voice responded in her head. Lal nodded tersely.

_How did you…? _She thought, and then mentally chided herself upon recognizing the answer. _Right, before we dove in, I let you back into my head. _A nod was her reply, though it was difficult to see in the inky blackness.

_I repeat, does it matter? _Viper questioned again.

_Why do you care? _She grumbled mentally, and allowed some of her emotion to flow down the bond. She'd forgotten telepathy's benefits; pictures and emotions could be conveyed as well as sound. This could also be a disadvantage, as it laid all one's thoughts bare.

_With your mental walls down, you thinking so hard hurts, especially with a bond and in such close proximity, _he said, and she gave an involuntary mental shudder as absolutely no emotions accompanied this.

_Ah! Sorry… _she thought when she realized he would have picked that up.

_Think nothing of it, I don't really care, _he replied, and she felt nothing from him.

They swam in silence for a while, both trying their best not to think out of courtesy for the other.

_Because you are my teammate, and I don't hate you, _Lal thought suddenly. _That's why it matters, _ she explained. She then began to elaborate, _I don't really have any feelings for you, but I don't think any of us do. It's because you don't ever show yourself. I don't even know what you look like. _

_Then…why? _Came the reply, a whisper even telepathically, and Lal felt emotion and saw things. She saw blood on hands, small hands, coming from a baby with a blue pacifier. She felt confusion, utter confusion, and one question echoing through her head; _WHY? _She heard laughter and felt her vision change, looking at the Magician's Doll, and back at the blood on an infant's hands. Then, she began to feel something else.

Abruptly, the memory ended ad Viper forcefully shut it off. She could feel an emotion coming off of him now, the same emotion as earlier, utter confusion. _He truly does not understand, _she began to realize, _why someone would sacrifice themselves for him. _

Suddenly, the emotion ended as the bond was rudely snapped. She cursed mentally and made sure to keep her mental shields down. She suspected he needed time to collect his emotions, and if she kept her shields down would probably reconnect with her eventually.

She wasn't sure why he never showed emotion, and she was curious, but wouldn't pry.

The mermaids and mermen were disgusting. They disgusted her. She made a point of not showing it though, and waited for Viper to fix it. She resisted the urge to gasp, although she had been underwater for quite awhile. She felt it open to the fish-people, and allowed their minds to meld with hers, until she understood what they wanted.

She let out a gasp, mentally so as not to drown, as she realized they were tying the precious people up and they may not survive. Wizards, she decided, were twisted.

As Viper and her swam away, he neglected to close the bonds and she didn't raise her shields.

_Would you like to see the rest? _His voice was emotionless again, and he offered no explanation of what it was the rest of, but she understood. The rest of his memory… the memory of his death. _It's anti-climactic. _

_Please, _she said, _I can handle it. _

* * *

She was back in the place with the blood and the body with those blue eyes that always gleamed dull and lifeless. And the emotions rushed over her and her power responded. As rage consumed her she telepathically lashed out, searching for Ginger Bread's body, not caring that in this Arcobaleno body with its low energy reserves she would fall asleep soon afterwards. As despair rose in her illusions came, drawing up the worst nightmares she knew, and she knew a lot, she was a telepath. As the desire for vengeance ripped through her objects nearby began to shift, responding to her, floating. And overall that confusion reined, causing all her abilities to shift and distort, her power completely out of her control and responding merely to her emotions.

Then pain came in as the effects of the Anti-TriNiSette policy regained their hold over her, momentarily broken by the power of the emotions she was so unaccustomed to. And she realized something, looking at the blood on her hands and feeling the exhaustion sweeping through her as the result of attempting her most powerful psychic maneuvers in this cursed body and the pain was over everything.

She couldn't win.

She felt herself reaching over and closing the once-brilliant eyes of the body in front of her. Her other hand found the pacifier on his neck, beaten though it was, and with a sharp tug, broke the chain. She undid the bandana from around his head and clutched both in her small, red hands.

She had enough energy to send this to the one that would care the most. Her pacifier would be taken, but this one would go to Lal Mirch. Confusion came over her again as she stared at the baby. The one time she wanted her power to go out of control it would not. Because of a curse and radiation.

The situation was hopeless, and she was Varia. She never accepted a mission with a less than 90% chance of success. And with it at zero percent, there was one thing left to do. As Mist curled around the blue pacifier and bandanna, she used the remnants of her power to send it to the incomplete Arcobaleno. The exhaustion threatened to overcome her just as surely as the weakness and pain the radiation caused did.

She looked up at Ginger Bread who was saying something, but she couldn't hear anymore, nothing but the sound of her beating heart, which she would soon use her own power to crush, effectively ending her life. And she smiled at the end, smiled at the Magician's Doll as she sent her power, eagerly awaiting the silence.

* * *

Lal was herself again with a shudder, as the memory ended with his death, and the Indigo flames she had just noticed wrapping her body disappeared. She shuddered again. He hadn't just shown her that time. He had made her him.

She hadn't known he could do that. It was so frightening.

_So that's why you never show emotions… _she thought, realizing that he must be afraid of his own powers getting out of control. She suddenly got angry. Creeping everyone out because of that? _Coward. _She felt him jerk in surprise. _Still, I understand. _

_Now you know, _he said, _tell me why he did what he did. It was stupid and illogical. Feelings are stupid and illogical._

_Maybe, _she conceded, and felt another wave of surprise wash down the bond; he had clearly expected her to argue. _But they can help too. The flame is resolve. _

_Resolve is not an emotion, _he retorted, _which is why I have it._

_Wrong, _she corrected, _humans cannot function without emotions. No decisions can be made. You have emotions, you just don't let yourself feel them or be ruled by them._

…_you are correct, _he acknowledged, _but that still does not answer my question. Why? In this case, emotions were wrong. Emotions may not be useless, but allowing yourself to act upon them is._

_Because he's him, _Lal said softly, _he's Colonello, the same man who took the curse for me although I ordered him not to. He just wouldn't be him if he hadn't died for you. _There was no response. _Let me show you my memory. It won't be the same as what you did. I'll simply feel it. You can handle it. I'll do it now, alright?_

_If you must, _he said at last, and she bit herself back from making a biting comment, though he felt them anyways, causing her to mentally chide herself. She took a breath and let herself relive that day, memory training coming in handy, though she doubted she would ever have forgotten anyway. She often woke up in the middle of the night telling herself that it wasn't real, and would never happen now.

* * *

The memory began in her infant form, walking along, unable to shake the feeling of unease in her stomach. Then the Mist came, all Indigo and she felt Viper's presence but it was so weak she wasn't sure it was even there. Immediately alarm overtook her as she remembered again that neither he nor Colonello knew about the radiation, that it was the reason all the Arcobaleno were getting weaker, though they were affected so much more severely than she was. She was worried when she felt the Mist flames, but even poisoned like they were, two Arcobaleno should be able to survive, right? And she could feel Colonello's presence, in the form of his pacifier. Then she frowned because she couldn't feel Viper's pacifier and he would never have returned without it.

That was when she realized something was horribly wrong. She started to mentally chant, , denial echoing through her head as she blatantly refused to accept it. Not another of the Arcobaleno dead, and not Viper! She couldn't tell the Varia. The possibility of it being Colonello never crossed her mind, because she could feel the pacifier,, and the Mist was clearing, and she could already see the bandana, it was there, camo against the indigo, and soon he would appear and-

…

**clatter**

No.

Her brain simply stopped working as she saw the blood covering the bandana. Then the Mist was gone and there was a clatter as the bruised pacifier hit the ground, with only a soft **whoosh** accompanying the bandana's fall to the ground. One word rang out in her mind, denying it all, then it escalated into the same frantic mental chanting as before, but even faster now, more panicked. She didn't even realize she was saying it under her breath now, whispering it. She ran through the last vestiges of the Mist, and she didn't even hear it whispering to her, whispering _I'm sorry_ over and over again, a mantra to match her own that was building in tempo. By the time she reached the pacifier and the bandana she was saying it, louder than it should have been, nearly shouting.

Then she felt the last binds of the curse break as the last of the Arcobaleno fell and she knew Viper was dead too, probably by the same enemy that had killed Colonello, and she couldn't deny it anymore because this would only happen at their deaths and it was all the evidence she needed and desperately did not want. She didn't even notice the tears running down her face.

She didn't even hear herself scream one last time in denial, loud enough to resound throughout the base and freeze all activity as the sound of raw grief tore through before she dissolved into tears completely, for the first time in longer than she could remember.

She wouldn't remember the next few hours, having the bandana and pacifier gently pried from her hands only to be clutched all the tighter against her chest until they just left it there. She wouldn't remember falling unconscious as the tenuous hold the curse held on her relaxed and her body would begin to grow, still not letting go of the pacifier and bandana.

She wouldn't remember any of that.

* * *

She felt Viper recede from her mind gently as grief as raw as the first time again overtook her, never mind that the objects of her grief were alive and better than ever, and one was even beside her. She felt him forcefully raise her shields again as her goggles filled with saltwater, contrasting with the freshwater around her and she realized she was crying again. But that was alright, because she didn't need to, and she could cry without the fear of showing weakness to an enemy and dying because of it. Viper let her alone to indulge in this rare luxury for those whose business was death, like them.

And a silent understanding passed between the two, one that needed no telepathy.

**

* * *

I wonder why tragedy is so much easier to write than romance. Sorry basically nothing happens and it's all speculation on what might have happened.**

**Ok, so last call for votes, because I want to ask another question, so if there is no tiebreaker by tomorrow, I'll just choose.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed! You have my eternal gratitude.**

**Please review if you have the time.**

**Thank you for reading.**

**I hope you enjoy the chapter!**


	15. Comfort Comes From the Oddest People

**Chapter 15 is out. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authours. **

* * *

Colonello grit his teeth as he watched the 'champions' dive into the water. He couldn't care less about them, in his mind it was like signing up for training with an Arcobaleno; there was a very high probability of death. But to drag people unrelated into it was just not right. They didn't ask for this. None of them put their names in the goblet. So he didn't like leaving them to the fish things.

Lal had been unusually quiet since she surfaced, and had taken one look at him, and run off before he could say a word. Viper had been quiet too, but that was his default state. When asked what had happened, he had simply shrugged and said something about fish things. It was all very vague, and as concerned about Lal as he was, he didn't notice that Viper was even quieter than normal. The others did, however, but knew better than to press. If it was important, then the Mist Arcobaleno would tell them eventually. If not, then it was none of their business.

Colonello fingered his Rain pacifier as he watched the black water churn beneath them. As the Rain Arcobaleno, he was used to the water and felt comfortable in it, but this water he didn't like. There were things in it, and Skull said his octopus had had some run-ins with some pretty mean creatures, but it was an armoured octopus, and could handle itself.

The students wouldn't fare as well, however.

Suddenly, a thought struck him. The octopus was quite the hostile thing, and it may attack the champions.

"Skull, kora!" he called, drawing the attention of the purple-haired Arcobaleno.

"I know, I know," he snapped, and when he turned Colonello noticed he had yet another bandage, this one covering his right eye.

"Reborn?" Colonello asked sympathetically, and the younger Arcobaleno nodded glumly.

"We had a talk about my octopus," he said with a sigh, and Colonello understood immediately. Reborn's 'talks' involved inflicting injury, then threatening more injury if his demands were not complied with immediately. During these 'talks' he never listened to anything, even protests of already having completed his demands. Colonello had only been the victim of one such 'talk', and he had made sure never to receive one again. Reborn's students got many of the 'talks', but Skull always got the worst, because he was good with injuries.

"And?" Colonello asked, causing Skull to scowl at him.

"It'll behave," he said, glaring again at the blond Arcobaleno. Colonello considered reminding him why he always treated him with respect, but decided against it. The younger Arcobaleno had been surprisingly well behaved on this trip, and he and Lal were getting along now, and Colonello did not want to piss off Lal.

Then he got an idea. Skull and Lal acted like siblings; often squabbling and trying to kill each other, but occasionally they got along, and when they did, they could usually tell what the other was upset about.

"Skull, kora!" he called, causing the Cloud Arcobaleno to turn back to him with an annoyed 'What' written all over his face. Before he could say a word, although he was opening his mouth, Colonello spoke, "What's wrong with Lal? Why'd she run away, kora?"

His response was a blank look with 'does not compute' written all over it. Skull finally pulled himself together, and managed, "…Are you serious?"

Colonello, who was beginning to feel very stupid and oblivious, which he hated, covered this up by punching Skull in his left, uninjured eye, causing him to fall into the lake. The splash caused all the wizards to look over. As Skull resurfaced, spluttering and rubbing his no-longer-uninjured eye, Colonello noticed that the wizards looked about to say something.

Luckily, he was spared from another awkward conversation when the part-veela surfaced with a gasp, and he realized with a sinking heart that she did not have her sister with her.

Skull, kora!" he spoke to the Cloud Arcobaleno as he pulled himself out of the water. "Help her out, it was in our orders." And he kicked him back into the water, then thought for a second and said, "Oh, and tell me what was so obvious."

Skull shot him an annoyed glance as he swam off, but called over his shoulder, "She was crying, idiot!" Colonello froze, stared for a second, then turned and high-tailed it to where he had seen her run off.

* * *

Fleur Delacour could not believe it when she surfaced. She had failed in retrieving her sister. She had failed. She couldn't say a word and actually contemplated just letting herself fall back in and drown. She had some cuts from the Grindylows, and those stung like heck. Maybe she could still save her sister if she dove in really deep. She would get disqualified, but she didn't care. Her sister would be safe. If she could get past the Grindylows.

She sighed, and let herself fall back into the water, silvery-blonde veela hair floating like a halo around her. Maybe if she drowned, they'd save her sister?

Suddenly she felt herself pulled to the surface, staring into a single, fuming, purple eye. She recognized the holder as one of the Arcobaleno, the youngest one, who had taken her sister away. She wondered idly what had happened to him, for the visible eye was bruised and the other one, the right eye, was covered in a thick white bandage. Now that she looked, she noticed the bandages covering his entire body, which she had previously noticed. His hair was purple, and she just couldn't help but wonder whether it was real.

The oxygen deprivation was getting to her.

She saw him lift a hand and felt him slap her across the face, the shock causing her to breathe. As she did, she suddenly noticed how badly she needed the air and began to gasp it in greedily.

"Stupido!" she heard him yell at her, and she frowned, because she was pretty sure that wasn't English, but he continued on, "Vuoi morire? Tu mi nei guai! Colonello-senpai mi ha colpito di nuovo!" The words were foreign but beautiful, but she did need to understand him, so she interrupted him.

"Um," she said, "I do not know vhat you are speaking, but I do not understand you." this effectively stopped him in the middle of yelling 'Tu sei un idiota, hai capito? E idiota!' He paused, and instantly turned red, mumbling apologies under his breath.

"Sorry," he apologized, now loud enough for her to hear. "I got agitated because if you died, I'd get in a lot, of trouble, and we'd all probably get kicked out, and then the curse would take hold again, which would be unpleasant." She nodded, knowing better than to pry about the curse; people tended to be sensitive about that stuff. She also chose not to dwell on his as much as saying that he wouldn't normally care if she died. As well, she knew not to ask about the injuries.

"I vas not avare you vere foreign," she said, instead, "You speak vith no trace of an accent." He shrugged and started to swim to the shore pulling her along.

"So, you are aware you lost the Task, correct?" he asked, pulling himself out of the water with only one hand and dragging her behind him with the other. She nodded mutely as that realization, momentarily forgotten by the shock of the slap and his yelling in that beautiful tongue. As she sank to the floor in depression and failure, she heard him say as he walked away, leaving her to be attended by the wizards, something that would reassure her and allow herself not to drown in guilt.

"Don't worry. If no one else saves her, then we will."

She had no doubt that if it was this man and his colleagues, the Arcobaleno, they would save her sister.

* * *

Colonello found Lal quickly, wiping her eyes, goggles clutched in her hand, and he jerked her face up to his.

"What happened, kora?" he nearly yelled. "Who hurt you? Whoever it is, tell me, so I can hunt them down and kill them, kora! Slowly."

"No one," she said softly. "Viper and I… we traded memories through the bond. I asked him," she tacked on hurriedly when she saw the murderous look on his face, "and you were dead. All of you." Tears were beginning to fall again, and she didn't notice them. "And I couldn't do anything because of the poison in the air." She reached up a hand to rub her eye, and noticed the wetness, and stared at her hand in shock. "Eh? I'm… crying?"

She looked so hurt, so innocent and young, that Colonello just reached around and hugged her.

Neither of them could say how long they stood there, comforting each other.

**

* * *

OK, so that chapter was done. Little bit of ColoLal at the end. You don't need to know what Skull was saying, but you can translate it if you want. **

**Ok, voting's over; I'm just going to decide, results will be out by tomorrow.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed! I am eternally grateful!**

**Please review if you have the time. It will make me very happy!**

**Thank you for reading. **

**I hope you enjoy the chapter.**


	16. It Falls Apart

**Chapter 16 is out. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authours. Nor do I own the saying.**

**Happy New Year's Eve!**

* * *

It all started with a word. One, petulant word from Skull, addressing Reborn. The word was one that all of them were used to uttering, but not one any of them were used to hearing, except for from Skull. He had been unusually well behaved on this trip, so when he said this word, all were surprised. To be fair, Reborn's demand was outrageous and maybe it was justified, but still, it was a stupid thing. What was the word which set it all off?

No.

The fight had gone a bit like this.

**

* * *

Flashback**

"Skull," Reborn had said, not moving from his position on the couch, where he was cleaning his extra ten pistols, which he kept in case something happened to Leon. This was, of course, far from likely, but Reborn was a tad paranoid.

"Yes, Reborn-senpai?" Likewise, Skull had not moved from his morning routine, a set of workouts. They all had something similar as their morning routines, even Reborn. He had just finished early. Why? Because he was Reborn, and easily the strongest there.

"Get some espresso," he ordered. "I'm out."

"Wh-what?" Skull spluttered, looking up from his previous focus on the ground.

"You heard me," Reborn said, and took one of the pistols and shot right beside Skull's hands, causing Skull to fall out of his handstand push-ups. The others looked over at the noise and Skull's loud swearing, which earned him another bullet right beside him.

"What was that for?" he finally asked. "There's no espresso nearby! You brought your own, didn't you?"

"I did," Reborn said, "But I drank it all."

This declaration earned him incredulous glances from all the other Arcobaleno doing various things around the room.

"How?" Skull exclaimed, waving his arms in agitation, "We brought over a 100 litres worth of coffee beans! And no one else drinks the stuff!" This earned him another bullet beside his foot.

"We've been here for 100 days," was the reply given by the Sun Arcobaleno.

"You drink a litre a day?" Skull gawked. The others looked vaguely queasy at this, except for Fon, who was trying to calm everyone down.

"Now, now" he said, flipping over and jumping off the pull-up bar, where he had been hanging upside down and pulling himself up by the toes, "I use a bushel of garlic in each of my gyoza buns."

"Yes, well, no one but you can eat those, kora!" complained Colonello, shrugging off the weights and pushing himself off his push-up on only his right index finger.

"Don't be rude, Colonello," Lal chided, looking up from reassembling her Uzi (1).

"I'm not," he said, "Viper thinks so too, don't you?"

"I don't mind the gyoza, so long as they're free," the aforementioned psychic said, not looking up from the mini-illusion he was casting inside his cupped hands, focusing on small details. One breach in concentration could cause the whole thing to collapse.

"Anyways," Reborn snapped, bringing them all onto the issue, "Skull, leave the castle grounds and bring back some espresso. I know the curse will take effect again," he said as Skull opened his mouth, "But we can just have him re-cast the spell." He gestured with his gun, "So, go." All the others made motions to return to what they were doing, except for Viper, who had never stopped.

"No."

The one word that started it all.

**Flashback end**

* * *

All of the Arcobaleno stared incredulously at Skull. He had just said no to Reborn. _HE _had just said _NO _to _REBORN_. It was like asking for death. It WAS asking for death. They all stared at Skull. He protested a lot, and was hurt a lot because of it, but saying no was insane.

Colonello's weights hit the ground, denting it. Fon fell off his bar and landed hard on his back. Lal's Uzi fell into many different pieces and hit the floor, gunpowder spilling everywhere. Viper's mini-illusion exploded, igniting the gunpowder. This caused everyone to dive behind something, even Fon, who was dizzy from hitting his head, and effectively destroyed the room.

Six of the Arcobaleno peeked out from where they were hiding to see Reborn, covered in soot, clutching his green gun. His eyes glinted dangerously.

"So," he said, and the rest of the Arcobaleno promptly hid again, "there is now soot on my suit. My favourite suit. Whose fault is this? I think it's all your faults, except for Fon. All of you should be punished. I'm going to call Verde. Why? Because Verde has recently become interested in psychic experimentation, Viper. Lal, Colonello, I wonder whether he'd like to test his new inventions? And Skull… we need to have a 'talk'. A very big 'talk'."

The six Arcobaleno looked at each other in fear, Fon being the exception, seeing as he had accidentally walked out a window. None of the others cared, believing he would be fine. Skull whimpered a bit but went to have his 'talk'. The others looked sympathetically in his direction then went back to planning how to escape Verde.

* * *

This would be the first of many an argument between the Arcobaleno, but Harry wouldn't know that. All he would know was that they weren't presenting a united front. And Skull had a lot more injuries. Reborn was grumpy and kept on talking about espresso. Viper was even more doll-like than ever, never saying anything and moving very little. Colonello and Lal looked harrowed, constantly glancing over their shoulders. He heard them mutter about a Verde as well. Fon looked fine, but he was eating a lot of gyoza.

Those gyoza were the cause of Harry's current predicament.

Harry had seen him eating them around, and so he, Hermione, and Ron had asked for one. He had given it without complaint, and they were currently sitting outside debating whether or not to actually eat them. They smelled a lot like garlic. Like there was a lot of garlic in them.

"Well," Hermione began, voice unsteady, "It can't be that bad, can it?"

Harry and Ron shook their heads and took a bite.

When they opened their eyes they realized they were in the hospital wing with some very worried Arcobaleno bending over them. Before they could say a word, Fon began to speak.

"I apologize," he said, bowing in the Chinese fashion. "I was distracted and accidentally gave you my special gyoza buns. They could have been fatal." The Golden Trio looked at each other in disbelief. Fatal dumplings? What?

"We need to talk," Reborn said; face guarded and more unreadable than usual. "Now. We can't fumble because of this." The Arcobaleno all looked at each other and nodded. "We aren't getting along anymore." Harry blinked as he realized that they seemed to have forgotten him and Ron and Hermione. They were off their guard. This was serious. If Harry could move, he would have gotten their attention. But he couldn't move or speak, so he had to watch as it all fell apart.

"I've spoken to the Headmaster," Reborn continued. "We shall all sleep in different rooms. We will not have to talk to each other or communicate when not necessary. We need some space. We've all gone from near-perfect solitude to being with each other 24/7. That may have worked once, but no longer." They all nodded gravely.

"So," Reborn said, "We'll separate until the end of the third task." They all nodded again, a few (OK, all except Viper) looking vaguely uncomfortable with this arrangement. But they all agreed, because that one word had sparked a fight between all of them, with sides taken and Verde contacted, and many, many, explosions. They had endangered the lives of quite a few students when Lal and Colonello got so angry at Reborn and Skull that they sprayed bullets everywhere. That particular situation had not been aided by the fact that Skull and Reborn were engaged in a rather one-sided fight. They had gotten quite the talking to later on.

* * *

Moody smirked as he watched the Arcobaleno split up. Truth be told, he had been the one who had made sure that their fights escalated into dangerous for the students, blowing things up when they were too embroiled in their fights to notice anything else.

After a student was sent to the hospital wing, he complained to the headmasters until this was demanded of the Arcobaleno. He smiled as he watched them through the wall with the aid of his eye. He remembered a clever Muggle saying that applied perfectly to this situation. He murmured it to himself, making a prediction as well.

"Divided they fall."

**

* * *

About the votes, Lal is definitely in, because of votes. But it's going to be a companion, and that companion is either going to be Skull or Viper. If you want to, you can vote on which of these two will be with her. In fact, please do.**

**Next chapter will be when it happens, so vote now, please!**

**Please review if you have the time. I will be very happy.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed. I am very thankful.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**I hope you enjoy the chapter!**


	17. Divided They Fall

**Chapter 17 is out. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authours.**

* * *

The plan began with the two targets meeting each other. One was the weakest, and the other was important to all of the Arcobaleno. The Arcobaleno were fighting, and as such they could not reconvene in time. The only problem was that these two weren't steadily speaking to each other.

It could not be any of the other Arcobaleno. Reborn would never allow the slip-up, and would probably not care if one of the others were held hostage. Colonello was too unpredictable, and was always on guard against Reborn, and his falcon acted as a guard as well. Fon was, frankly, far too frightening, even more so than Reborn, because he had never seen him stop smiling, and his monkey would warn him as well. Viper was always on guard, and would most likely not attempt any psychic ventures with him around, and he swore the Mist Arcobaleno's frog could smell him. He just knew it.

Lal Mirch did not have an animal partner to aid in sensing him nearby. Skull's animal partner was in the lake. Skull was constantly injured, and currently could only see out of one eye. Lal was accustomed to warzones, and would not pay much attention to a threat she already looked down upon. However, she would most likely still notice him, if not for her tendency to become completely embroiled in conversations with the other Arcobaleno. Skull had this tendency as well, and, currently still recovering from dragon burns that should have killed him or left him in a coma for at least six months, let alone walking, would not be on guard.

Truthfully, he had no choice but these two. The others would follow. The problem was making any two of the Arcobaleno stay in the same room as the other for any length of time.

It was a good thing Lord Voldemort had given Moody a plan.

* * *

Lal was pretty sure that bumping into Skull when he was changing his bandages inside an empty room he had most likely only ducked into for a minute was not quite a coincidence. She was also pretty sure seeing as said room was one of the only rooms without a roof, and perfect for spying was very difficult to do. She was also pretty sure because she had made a point of never looking at the worst of the burns, and she was now being forced to.

She bet it was a harebrained scheme to make her apologize.

…

She had a feeling it was Fon. It wouldn't be the first time he had done something like this. And with the Arcobaleno, precedents tended to ring true.

"Lal-oneechan?" he asked timidly, hurrying to pull the bandages over his torso and zip up his jumpsuit, "How did you end up here? There are probably over three hundred rooms in the castle, and I just ducked into this one a minute or so ago."

Yup. Definitely one of Fon's ideas. Only he would do something like this. Viper and Reborn could, but there was no reason to for Viper and Reborn just didn't care enough.

"I was getting my gun from the room I had trashed it in, when one of the bullets mysteriously," she emphasised the mysteriously, knowing full well Fon could probably do this with Storm flames, "rolled along the floor into this room." She picks up said bullet and pockets it.

"Oh," Skull said, uncharacteristically quiet, zipping up his jumpsuit, "I was just changing them, because, they, you know, need to be changed…" he trails off uncertainly.

"Right," she said, feeling the situation spiral out of the comfort realm. "Bandages tend to do that…"

* * *

Why was Lal-oneechan there? She shouldn't be there. 'There' was an empty room. She shouldn't be in an empty room.

He didn't feel like getting thrown out a window again when she got embarrassed. It was a bad reaction anyway.

He heard a hiss and looked around curiously. He wasn't sure where it had come from. It wasn't an animal hiss either; it was more of the hiss that steam being released made. Lal-oneechan noticed it too, looking around.

Then both of them saw the canister and covered their noses and mouths. Green, sparkly smoke was rising up from the canister, curling and writhing in the air.

There was only one thing that was green and sparkly like that. He wasn't sure when it became smoke, but he realized with a start what it reminded him of. That potion Moody had given them. They had been right all along. And now he had versions of the Anti-TriNiSette policy, most likely sold to him by Verde. To the Thunder Arcobaleno, the others had never been anything more than science experiments.

He should have known he wouldn't hesitate to give their only weakness to their enemies in order to get a bit of experimenting in.

Both of them had their noses and mouths covered but it was no use; it would just go through their skin. Their skin breathed as well.

It wasn't as strong in gas form, so they were still conscious as their legs gave out from under them.

Skull hit the ground hard, unable to break his fall, cursing his carelessness. They had trusted the wizards, and this is what they got? Reborn had been right, all those years ago, when he had refused Luce's espresso.

The whole world was out to get them. The power of the Arcobaleno pacifiers and those who were eternally bound to them was not to be underestimated, and it appeared that this pursuer had realized that the Arcobaleno could be used only in tandem with the Arcobaleno themselves.

He couldn't move, all the strength was gone; he could barely keep his eyes open. It hurt. His hands weren't covering his mouth and nose, so he was breathing in the Anti-TriNiSette Policy deeply. He couldn't move and there was another canister of the stuff.

His eyes closed as he lay there, unable to move, unable to do anything, conscious yet helpless.

* * *

Lal scrambled forward as the poison ate at her, déjà vu hitting her hard. She crawled, on her hands and knees, as an incomplete Arcobaleno the Anti-TrNiSette policy hit her less than the others. She should have known it was a trap. The Arcobaleno should have known it was a trap.

But they hadn't. On the orders of the headmaster, they had not been able to give all their information. They hadn't been prepared.

In a way, they deserved this.

She could feel it affecting her, but she fought against it. Skull was on the ground already, already barely conscious, barely moving. She tried to get closer when she heard a hiss and saw a second canister, right beside her. She couldn't fight it anymore, but she did. Somehow, she did. She grasped Skull and tried to make him move, but she knew he couldn't. She knew, but she just didn't care.

She tugged his head up and started to crawl out, dragging out Skull. She didn't make it that far as a third canister hit the floor, and her vision faded. She saw a grinning blond recruit, laughing at something, and the same recruit, pushing her out of the way as the curse activated. And she saw him looking sad as he stared at a grave, one of his friends, but now the name was hers and she wasn't there to comfort him.

I'm sorry, Colonello.

Her eyes slipped close as Moody stepped close. She knew it was him. They all knew. He clutched weird objects in his hand; they had to be portkeys.

It's always worse to be the one left behind.

* * *

Harry was tense at the beginning of the final task. All the Arcobaleno were there- or should be. Lal Mirch and Skull were conspicuously absent. But the Arcobaleno had been tight-lipped as of late. Luckily, the random death matches were over, but there was still tension in the air. And none of them had spoken to any of the wizards or witches since Skull and Lal were last seen.

Harry shrugged, returning to the matter at hand; the final task.

* * *

Moody smiled. Lord Voldemort could not do anything to the Arcobaleno, bound with chains of the glowing green substance, until he was revived. The green stuff hid their pacifiers' presence from the others as well. Lord Voldemort was careful not to use the truly potent stuff and kill them, just the paralyzing and weakening. He watched Harry Potter enter the maze.

_Soon_, he thought. _Soon_.

_Soon it will all be over._

* * *

And oh how right he was.

**

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Wow, that chapter was long in the making. I'm sorry for the delay. I still dislike this chapter. But I can't think up an improvement right now. So you'll just have to deal.**

**Moody pretty much explained in his monologue. I'm insecure about this chapter, so please review.**

**Please review if you have the time. I will be forever in your debt!**

**Thanks to all who reviewed. I am extremely thankful!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**I hope you enjoy the chapter!**


	18. Death Always Smiles

**Chapter 18 is out. I own nothing. Both stories belong to their respective authours. **

**I got a lot of votes for Viper basically destroying the Dark Lord and Moody, so be prepared for that. And he snaps, so he's a bit OOC. I wanted to play with that, sorry if you don't like it.**

**Warning: some swear words.**

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Viper kept pace with Harry Potter as the boy moved through the maze. He floated lightly above the grass so as not to make a sound, and he made absolutely sure to keep himself invisible. He was there when the boy fought the creatures, and he watched with detached interest as the boy fought the Durmstrang representative.

When Harry finished Viper knelt down and placed a hand on Krum's forehead. He entered the mind and was unsurprised to find an Imperius curse the cause. He took a second to check the connection he had created with Harry Potter, and then erased all traces from the boy's mind, before following it to the source.

Viper's eyes narrowed imperceptibly under his hood. _Moody. _He was about to attack Moody's mind, when he felt the Potter boy's mind spin. He jerked himself out and sent psychic waves down his power lines to the other Arcobaleno. They were by his side in seconds. He raised his hands and with intense concentration teleported them all to where the Hogwarts 'champion' had gone.

With an intense rush of power, they were there. Viper did not attempt to make the trip easy on the others for once, and for a while they would be unable to do much more than simply stand there. This was good. He had wanted to go wild, and he was getting paid enough for it. The Arcobaleno wasted no time in looking around. One student lay on the ground, and he was presumed to be dead. They would waste no time trying to aid him. The one they could save was chained to a gravestone.

Nearby, but much farther into the graveyard, the two missing Arcobaleno were chained- with sparkly green chains.

* * *

Harry hadn't believed it when he had seen the captured Arcobaleno. It made him lose all hope against defeating Voldemort. Ever since he had first seen the Arcobaleno, he had known they were strong. They stood there, simply stood there, and the aura was palpable. You could feel the temperature drop when one of their gazes slid over. Just being in the nearby vicinity let one feel their power. So it wasn't all that surprising when they actually had fought, things exploded.

Harry would never forget their first fight. Lal had yelled something at Skull, who had sulked, and said something back, while Colonello laughed. Skull had gotten angry and yelled something, and then Lal had punched him through a wall.

Punched. Him. Through. A. Wall.

There were so many things wrong with that Harry didn't even know where to start. And this was on the tower. He had fallen like 500 feet. What had been scary was when five minutes later; he came up, panting slightly, bruised, and with blood coming out from the burn bandages, but otherwise fine.

He was fine. After being punched through the wall of a tower.

There was just something seriously wrong with that. Harry had kind of blanked out at this point, feeling that the rest of the fight wouldn't matter. Which was a pity, because apparently Skull ended up calling some sort of giant octopus, wearing armour. That happened to be bright red. It was Reborn who broke it up. He had given them both words. They had both looked appropriately chastised and very red. Well, Lal did, Skull just looked sore. Lal had been winning, and Reborn had contributed to the injury count.

And he had thought them invincible.

Then he had touched the cup, and seen them chained to the gravestones, with glowing green chains, definitely unconscious. And his mind flashed back to the fight, and wondered how two such strong people could be defeated so soundly. Then he saw Wormtongue, pulling out his wand and pointing it at Cedric and he heard the words of death uttered, saw him fall. Then he was pulled to the stone and chained, and panic took over and he forgot all about the chained Arcobaleno. He was drained of blood, and Wormtongue cut off his own hand, and the chained Skull was cut as well, Lal being dismissed as incomplete, whatever that meant.

Then the Arcobaleno had come.

The first Arcobaleno to appear was Viper. He appeared out of nowhere, and there was something different about him. There was something inherently dangerous about his gaze. The others were behind him, and they looked dazed from the teleportation, blinking and trying to orient themselves, while Viper stood there with arms outstretched. His arms lowered, and he smiled, a slow, dangerous smile.

It couldn't even be called a smile really, just a slight upturning of the lips. It told of things mortals should never see, and would never see again. It was a smile of the things that go bump in the night. The monster under your bed, the bogeyman in the closet; this was the smile they may have smiled as they looked down at their victims. It was the smile of the monsters that lay in the dark. It was the smile of the demons that made Hell their own. It was a carnivore's smile. It was a smile of something stained in blood, with more deaths on his mind than Voldemort had even dreamed of. It was not a smile that promised happiness and tales of joy. No, this smile spoke of something completely different.

This smile spoke of nothing but death.

Harry had never felt more terrified in his life.

Every nerve, every fibre of his body urged him to run. It said that the man before him was a predator, and that Harry was the prey. Harry had never felt that a name could be so accurate as he did now, _Viper_. The man before him was a poisonous snake, and he was going to kill them all. The graveyard began to shift as the man smiled, gravestones shuddering, and Harry felt cold as the one he was chained to lurched around. There was a crash and all the Death Eaters spun around to stare as a crypt collapsed in on itself.

"I don't usually show emotion," Viper's voice broke the spell even as objects shuddered around them. The voice was so strange, so different from the emotionless lilt that Harry was used to coming out of the man's mouth. Man? That was a bad word in this connotation. This was not a man, this was an Arcobaleno, one of the seven who could destroy an army singlehandedly with barely any effort. He practically purred the words, and each syllable dripped with venom. Harry felt cold as a certainty he had never felt before gripped his heart; he was going to die here. This man was going to kill him. He looked around and it was clear the Death Eaters felt the same, they were all frozen, caught in the snake's hypnotic gaze.

"But I'm going to make an exception," he continued, the smile never dropping, the wind beginning to whip around him as he began to surreptitiously gather power to himself. Harry felt his heart skip a bit as his cloak fluttered and he realized he was floating. "Mukuro got lucky. I am going to activate Phantasma now, but not use the pacifier's power. I certainly don't need it. But I want you to know just how dangerous it is to mess with us. It would cost me money if you tried this stunt again. See, I'm psychic, so the illusions I make are a bit different from normal ones. At least, when I want them to. I can bend reality and all that, but I can make real illusions. So know this," and his voice here dropped into a hiss, promising just as much pain as the purr before it, and somehow even more deadly, "everything you see here is real."

"We could not be defeated so easily by brats," his voice continued, rising back into that predatory purr, "we are the TriNiSette, and I, I am Varia, I am bloodstained, I had killed more in my first years then Voldemort ever did, and you," he paused again, surveying all those gathered, "you are all going to die here."

With those ominous words he raised a hand, and a chain sprang to it, Harry recognizing it as the one that had bound the pacifier. With a sharp crack, it disappeared. Then the frog on his cracked and what Harry blearily recalled as an Ourobouros came out, only, it wasn't eating it's tail, it was swirling around his outstretched arm, as the wind whipped around and the gravestones moved.

Voldemort seemed to recover, and tossed the glowing green stuff at the Arcobaleno.

"Anti-TriNiSette policy?" Viper asked, sounding almost disappointed, "How… boring. One of the few times I let myself go, and this is the best you can come up with? How disappointing." The wind picked up and the green stuff was thrown back at the Death Eaters.

Then the ground cracked, and Harry 's only legible thought was _Oh shit, oh shit, I'm going to die, I'm going to DIE, _being repeated over and over again, over a bunch of white noise that sounded mostly like panic. Huge pillars of fire were exploding out of the ground, and a few of the Death Eaters were already incinerated.

"WAIT!" Voldemort screamed, "You can't free the other Arcobaleno this way, we are the only ones who can, because you can't touch the chains! If you persist with this we'll kill them!" Viper's onslaught paused a moment, and his head twisted to face Voldemort.

"And?" he asked, and Harry stared in disbelief at the blatant disregard for comrades' survival, before he continued, "But I suppose you're right, I need Skull to break the curse, and Colonello would charge me if Lal got killed so you're right…" here some of the Death Eaters looked relieved, and he turned to them before finishing, "I should kill you before you can hurt them and have Harry undo the chains." Those few Death Eaters could only squawk indignantly before going up in pillars of fire.

Phantasma floated up and circled above his head as he turned to Voldemort, hand falling away, and that… facial expression disappearing. Objects ceased moving, and the levitating things hit the ground with a sharp _crack _ as the wind died down. When next he spoke, his voice was once again completely devoid of emotion into the now still and silent graveyard.

"Nothing awaits all but death. The only consistency is money. Power, glory, friendship, and love… they mean nothing in the end. Only money means something. Everything dies. Everything but we, who can never truly die, cursed to protect the pacifiers for all of eternity, even in death. But for you, Flight of Death, Thomas Riddle, nothing waits for you. Nothing but death. I may not be the one to grant it to you, but it will come. Flight of Death? You even beckon it to yourself with your name."

He raised his head to the sky, then looked back down again.

"They cry out for you. I hear them. They scream. They scream for revenge. They scream for blood. They scream for their killer to die. They scream in pain. They scream in torment. They scream."

His voice took on an almost dreamlike quality.

"They scream for you, O Flight of Death."

Into the deafening silence that followed, Voldemort unleashed the Killing Curse, but the green bolt of light twisted halfway to Viper, shuddering, then spun off course, killing one of the nearby Death Eaters.

"Was that to kill me? Like the boy you gave to death earlier?" he gestured at Cedric, and Harry saw with horror what was undoubtedly Cedric's ghost staring at Voldemort with hatred for a second before flickering and disappearing.

"I hear them. They cry for me, you know. They cry for all of us. But I can hear them. I hear the freshly dead cry out as I walk from a body, vowing revenge upon me. But I don't' care. You do. And that's why they will kill you."

With a sharp _crack_ Voldemort and the remaining Death Eaters disappeared, leaving behind the Arcobaleno.

"I'm not following them," Viper declared in response to this, "I wasn't paid to follow them, just scare them off. Protect Harry Potter. I did that. I'm not using my powers again. We're walking back." As he said this, the chain reappeared and disappeared again, Ourobouros turning back into a rather nondescript frog.

"You always were the scariest of us," Reborn remarked, shooting the chains binding Lal and Skull, causing them to fall to the ground, only to be caught by Colonello and Fon, respectively. They woke up almost instantly, and the two Arcobaleno began to apparently explain in hushed voices to them what had transpired. Reborn walked over to Harry, clutched the chain, and squeezed. It broke almost instantly, and Harry decided it was a very bad thing he felt only a muted surprised feeling at this. "The whole dead thing always helped. It always has been the Mist's job to scare everyone in the immediate vicinity out of their wits." He tugged Harry out and dropped him, letting him fall to the ground.

"Can we walk back?" Fon asked, looking up gently, "I think this may be a different plane of existence. I know you're tired, but it's just one more thing. I'll pay you."

"I love it when you show emotion," Reborn remarked contentedly, "It's the only real reason I put up with you. It's so fun to watch. The look in their eyes is simply priceless. Glad you got that off your chest here though. Imagine if you'd done that when the curse is fully activated. Would be disastrous. Oh, Colonello, congratulations." This last comment was said to the man who was kissing Lal, apparently in relief, or had been, because he was now curled up on the ground, clutching his torso, as a very red Lal walked off, dragging Skull behind her. Harry couldn't really process this, as he was still getting over the very disturbing things Reborn had said.

"I think my ribs are broken," he moaned. "But it was worth it, kora!" he then coughed up blood. "No, wait, that definitely punctured a lung. Reborn, do something, kora!"

Reborn sighed, "No, I hate healing, just deal with it. It's your own fault." This earned him a glare from Colonello and another incredulous look from Harry. He scrambled over to Cedric, even as Fon knelt down by him. He took his pulse, and looked up.

"He's dead," he said, "Definitely. Gone. Voldemort must have killed him. Ah, well, people die. Still, a pity, he had potential." The smile never left his face. And it was all spoken in that same gentle voice.

Harry was suddenly sick behind the bush. The flippant way these people treated death made him nauseous.

"Leave him," Skull had finally spoken up, apparently having finally extracted himself from Lal's vice-like grip. She had apparently been hiding behind a gravestone from Colonello, who was taping his own ribs. "No point in taking it back. Waste of energy for Viper, who's probably just about ready to collapse anyway."

"You will pay me for that comment," Viper remarked, ignoring Skull's protests. "And we should take the body back. We may get money for it. I can charge it anyway."

Viper raised his arms, and they were suddenly all back in the maze.

* * *

Moody could barely believe his eyes when they came back. This was impossible. The plan was perfect. But they were there, and very much alive.

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So, this is really late. Really, really late. I can't believe it. I'm so sorry.**

**See, I went back, then I got the flu, then I got a cold, then report cards were coming out, then my teacher was horrible, then I got insomnia, and no one gave me reviews. So, please review, because it gives me inspiration.**

**Almost the last chapter. Thinking about a sequel in the fifth year, but will need reviews.**

**Thanks for reading this chapter.**

**Please review.**

**Thanks to the few people who did review.**

**Thanks for keeping up with the story!**


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